In Reply to: Balinese Wedding Script posted by MrMattles on Tuesday, 7. October 2008 at 23:15 Bali Time:
to village etc...
Initially I converted to Hinduism, 3 days before our wedding, then we were to stay in side the village til the morning of the wedding as jealous relatives, friends or whomever may do black magic leading up to a wedding. The morning of the wedding we were both dressed (took a few hours for traditional dress, headpiece & makeup) then a fire was lit with a piece of bamboo propped above the bamboo, we didnt speak the Priest chanted & Nenek (my grandmother in law) would grab onto my arm or my husbands to direct us on what to do, as the Priest spoke Balinese Sanskrit & other than Nenek noone else knew excectly what was being said, my sister in law had to bathe my feet, I had to give my husband food & drink & he then had to feed me & gice me a drink, we had to walk around offerings & symbolic statues 3 times, my husband gave me money & I gave him a woven leaf which he then could stab with his kris..
We then went into the kitchen & had to pour water & light a candle then into the temple to pray, back out again where I was then given a baby coconut dressed in a blanket & my husband carried a bamboo pole with coloured fabric knotted to it & we had to walk out of the compound & back in again 3 times.. The whole time the priest sat in the same place chanting & ringing the bell, with Nenek, my Mother in law & sister in law telling us what to do...
All of a sudden there was a loud bang where the bamboo pole had burnt through & the wedding was no classed as done!
We then spent 5+ hours having our photo's taken with the 300+ persons that attended, we then had a rest for 45mins & then next group of well wishers arrived another 300+ I was then changed into a different outfit, as was my husband, we then could eat & relax...
These guests stayed maybe 2-3 hours & left then it was about 8pm & all of our friends & younger aged relatives/guests arrived...
We then had a band, dancing & drinking til 4-5am... The following day we spent at my Father in laws family temple where we prayed & watched dancing, bands etc...
After that we pretty much were done!!
But I have also attended quite a few weddings in various villages & various castes & ALL have been different.
My best friend is high caste Balinese & his wedding was 5 days & totally different to ours.. So I dont think there is any 1 ceremony script!!