Bali Cremations

I can't tell you how to find a cremation in Bali (for obvious reasons), but I can recount how one found me and encourage you to go along if you're ever invited by a local to do so.

But before I do, I want to state that for the Balinese, it is not a time for mourning, it's a celebration and the burning of the body is to free their souls. After death, the body must be dissolved and returned to its original elements. The cremation ritual is a purification rite which frees the roh (soul or spirit) from its temporary earthly house and facilitates its journey to its next existence.

To the Balinese, the material body is only the shell, the container of the soul. This soul lives in every part of the body, even in the hair and nails, but it is concentrated in the head which is near-holy to them.

By cremation the soul is released to fly to the heavens for judgement and return to be reborn into the dead man's grandchildren. Failure to liberate the soul by neglecting to perform the cremation or by incomplete or improper rites would force the soul to turn into a ghost that would haunt the careless descendants.

The Balinese looks forward to being cremated properly and often makes provisions with savings or property that can be pawned or sold to finance it. The greatest happiness that comes to a Balinese family is to have accomplished the liberation of the souls of their dead. The size and elaborateness of the cremation ceremony reflects the wealth of the deceased's family. Since cremations are large and expensive festivals (due to holy water, costly tower coffins, priests, food & entertainment for hundreds of guests), sometimes the body is temporarily buried until the family can afford the cremation. The cremation may take place years after the death of the individual.

At cremation ceremonies, the body is carried from the burial ground (or from the deceased home if it's an immediate cremation) to the cremation ground in a high, multi-tiered tower made of bamboo, wood, paper, string, silk, flowers and mirrors - anything bright & colourful. The tower is carried on the shoulders of a group of men, the size of the group depends on the importance of the decased and hence, the size of the tower. The funeral of a former rajah of high priest may require hundreds of men to tote the tower.

Along the way to the cremation ground, certain precautions must be taken to ensure that the deceased's spirit does not find its way back home. Loose spirits (ghosts) around the house can be a real nuisance. To ensure this doesn't happen, it requires getting the spirits confused as to their whereabouts, which you do by shaking the tower, running it around in circles, spinning it around, throwing water at it, generally making the trip to the cremation ground anything but a stately funeral crawl. (You should see this.. hundreds of people running a big tower around in a circle with lots of people following)

At the cremation ground the body is transferred to a funeral sarcophagus-this should be in the shape of a bull for a Brahmana, a winged lion for a Satria and a sort of elephant-fish for a Sudra. These days, almost anybody from the higher castes will use a bull. Finally up it all goes in flames-funeral tower, sarcophagus, body, gifts, everything!

Bali Cremation Ceremony

See more Cremation Videos on the Bali Cremations and Temple Videos Page.

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My Bali Cremation Story:

An excited guy came up to me trying to encourage me to go to a cremation in another village. After a little debate and some bartering, I was on my way for the low price of 100,000R.


It took about 1/2 hour of mad rushing to get there as he didn't want to be late. I was the ONLY tourist there, and the only white-skin person for miles.


Half the children had never seen anyone like me or it must be very rare, they were all smiles - big, cheesy grin, smiles, and saying Halo Bully (Hello, Foreign Person), what's your name, then I was hearing my name every few minutes as the children tried to get my attention so they could smile, wave, and say their English words.


The ceremony was interesting. There were 2 deaths (a man and a woman). The man died from some lung disease, he was a policeman, an important man in their village.

It was amazing to see that many people "involved in the whole process", including carrying the body, it was an interesting experience. I didn't stay to watch the burning of the bodies as the description of what was to come was enough to sicken my heart. Apparantly when they burn the bodies, you can see their arms come out, or legs, and you see their hair and flesh on fire. Coupled with what Ama was saying about the spirits screaming, I didn't think it would be wise to stay.

I felt disrespectful taking photos of the ceremony, but my driver paid a guy and said it was quite ok for me to do.

On our way back to Ubud, we stopped at a local market so that I could buy some traditional clothing to wear to the Art & Craft Celebrations/Festival.

According to the driver, it will make the locals so happy if they see me make an effort. I bought 1 traditional outfit for 100,000 and another for 150,000. I think I look funny and really FAT wearing them. I hope I can get some photos taken anyway cos it's unlikely I will ever wear them again.