An Odalan is a

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

nese village temple festival in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It is an occasion when the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

village community comes together, invite the gods to visit them for three or more days, perform religious services together offering refreshments and entertainment. It is a periodic event, one that celebrates Balinese Hindu heritage and performance arts. The Odalan celebrations are a social occasion among Indonesian Hindus, and have historically contributed to the rich tradition of theatre and Balinese dance forms. An Odalan marks the founding of a particular Hindu temple, and is celebrated on its birthday according to the ''

Pawukon The Pawukon is a 210-day calendar that has its origins in the Hindu religion in Bali, Indonesia. The calendar consists of 10 different concurrent weeks of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 days. On the first day of the year it is the first day of ...

'' – the 210 day Balinese calendar. Since Bali has thousands of Hindu temples, with at least three in each village, several Odalan are celebrated in some part of Bali almost every day of the Gregorian calendar. The celebration rituals are called ''Dewa Yadnya'' (Sanskrit: Deva Yajna), includes processions, decorations of the village temple, entertainment and dancing in the temple courtyard, the village community pools its resources and observes it together. The Odalan at a few large temples, such as the

Pura Besakih Besakih Temple ( Balinese: ᬧᬸᬭᬩᭂᬲᬓᬶᬄ) is a ''pura'' complex in the village of Besakih on the slopes of Mount Agung in eastern Bali, Indonesia. It is the most important, the largest and holiest temple of Balinese Hinduism, ...

- the biggest Hindu temple in Bali, has major cultural importance beyond its location. It is an island wide event, and therefore celebrated with major preparations once every 100 Balinese years.

References

Hindu holy days in Bali {{reli-festival-stub

See also

References