This was a bier, he said. A funeral was about to begin. Although most of Indonesia's provinces are predominantly Muslim, Bali is mainly Hindu. This is the most important ceremony in the Balinese cycle of life. In Bali a cremation is a festive occasion, lavish and expensive.
People begin saving in middle age to pay for their own cremation.
Often, poor families that cannot afford an immediate ceremony will bury the body and wait, sometimes for years. In the old days they might wait for the death of an aristocrat desiring a retinue to accompany him into the next life. Now several families will pool resources and share the cost of a mass cremation. The bodies are disinterred, and a colourful gala is held. In Tegallalang the deceased man was of the Brahmin caste, so his family could afford an immediate cremation.