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Ngaben (Cremation Ceremony)

Bali's Cultures

Ngaben is a cremation ceremony for Balinese Hindu. This is an expensive ritual to send the deceased to the next life. The ritual is usually conducted by the children of a family to respect their dead parents. During the ritual there’s no tears shed from the family member since they believe that the deceased is on the way to their real home. It’s believed that tears can halt the journey of the deceased to the next life.

During the ceremony, the body of the deceased is placed inside a coffin, which is placed inside a temple structure made of paper and wood. This temple structure will be carried to the cremation site in a procession. The unique people in the procession are not walking in a straight line in order to confuse bad spirits and keep them away from the deceased.

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A person who called as Pedanda will read prayers for the deceased before it’s burned. At the climax the deceased is finally burned with the temple structure where the deceased laid. It’s believed that the fire free the spirit from the body to enable it reincarnate later on. The ashes of the deceased body are then discharged into the sea or river.

Since Ngaben is an expensive ceremony, it’s not always immediately performed after somebody died. Lower caste member are often perform it in a group ceremony to save cost.