Cremation is another major part of the Balinese Hindu way of life. Balinese Hindu people believe that a person must be cremated after their death, or else their spirit will not be free to be reincarnated. Cremation is a celebration, not a sad event, and follows a strict ceremonial structure based on religious symbols and the caste of the deceased person. We were lucky to be able to see both the preparations and the ceremony itself. The serpent was burned in the cremation ceremony, and was meant to accompany the spirit of the deceased into the beyond.
Tourism is a major business in Bali, and the cremation was no exception.
The cremation procession began at the Ubud palace and ended at the cremation grounds about 1 km down the main road. We were astonished to see the bull, the chamber in which the body would be placed for burning, looking so finely decorated. The week before, it had been nothing but a bamboo-pole structure with a roughly carved head. A nine-tier cremation tower sat ready at the end of the procession decorated with paper flowers and a photograph of the deceased. We accompanied the rollicking procession and sat high on an earth bank to watch the ceremony.