Time, Rites and Festivals in Bali

Bali is renowned for its vibrant traditional culture, as expressed in the endless cycle of rites and festivals that mark the passage of time on the island. And as Bali’s visitors quickly learn, the Balinese show little interest in keeping accurate track of linear time—“time is money” is an alien concept to them. Yet they manage to fulfill their many ritual obligations, along with the more mundane demands of life, in a graceful and relaxed manner. What is far less known, yet equally extraordinary, is the multi-calendar system that makes the Balinese ritual cycle tick, and keep on ticking, even as the Balinese struggle to juggle the competing claims on their time, and more linear notions of time, brought by globalisation.Despite the calendar system’s significance as a key to Bali’s culture, little has been published about it outside Bali until now. Time, Rites and Festivals in Bali is the first book-length English-language publication on the subject. Written by two recognised specialists of the culture, French writer Jean Couteau and Swiss scientist and curator Georges Breguet, this book unravels the bewildering complexity of the Balinese calendar system in a text that makes it accessible to a general audience. The book is illustrated by 62 specially-commissioned drawings by Balinese artist Gusti Nyoman Darta, the great-nephew of master artist Gusti Nyoman Lempad, along with photographs of rites in action, and wooden and painted calendars from the Musée d’horlogerie du Locle, Château des Monts; Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde (RMV) - the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden; Museum der Kulturen Basel, Switzerland; Nyoman Gunarsa Museum of Classical Balinese painting (Klungkung); the Rudana Museum and private collections.Time, Rites and Festivals in Bali will be a welcome addition to the libraries of all those intrigued by the traditional culture of Bali and its resilience. It will also appeal more widely to anyone who wants to learn about different cultural notions of time, and find new ways to celebrate time in their own lives.