The major crops of their small, irrigated fields are rice, corn, cassava, vegetables, and fruit. Balinese villages vary in population from a few hundred to several thousand. The houses are usually surrounded by a walled courtyard. Genealogical descent is traced through the male line, and the family is the most important social group. Polygamy is permitted, but most men have only one wife.
Divorce is common.
Balinese culture was strongly influenced in the past by Indian civilization. Indian influence has been widespread in dance, blending with indigenous religious and folklore traditions. Each area affected expresses in its dance a distinctive ethnic personality in symbolic stylizations. On the island of BALI, the paper or leather wayang puppets made for the shadow plays are the best known and most unique of the folk-art objects. Also impressive are the brilliantly painted peasant houses with steeply gabled roofs and elaborate carvings.