FLOWER OF BALI

Balinese traditional society treated flowers with very different way from international new society. In Bali flowers are not considered potential commodity for business, although there are some flower vendors can be seen on the road side. Balinese house wives need flowers at least one fourth kilogram per week for making ceremony. This number will be increased fourfold during big ceremonies which is commonly every village at least has 9 times big religious ceremonies a year. To fill this need every family usually plants some kind of flowers in their land in limited number. Among dozens of cultivated flowers, there are some of them can not be used in religious ceremony with the reason that the source of the flower related with bad myth such as the origin of flower to be said from nasty and dirty place.

Within the ceremony itself there are classification of flowers, some can be used to make offering to gods, and some can only be used for offering to the lower beings. People believe that the cosmic order is divided into 3 layers. The highest layer is the abode of gods and holy spirits, the middle is the human world, and the lowest or the nether world is the place of inferior beings. What is meantinferior beings by Balinese belief, is hard to explain. Normally people believe that the spirits of lower animals, human spirits that are not accepted in the place of gods due to his/her bad conduits during his/her life time. According to the belief human senses can not revealboth superior beings and inferior beings due to it's limitation. It makes us curious with the discovering of low frequency sound that human could not hear, and infra-red that human eyes could not see. It is probably correlated and revealed by thinker in the past byintuition. Thank to human genius that a tool to hear or see such phenomenon beyond human being has been invented. For Balinese these 3 layers of the universe need rituals to keep the harmony. In this case the meaning of flower is very special, and is believed to be able to allure the spirits to come and enjoy the offering. By appeasing this spirits than there will be no commotional cosmos, and they will be staying at their own premise. That is why at every occasion when Balinese are praying they always using flower, fire, and water, and flower can not be changed, while fire and water is tolerable.

Balinese tradition do not introducesending flower as a token of sympathy, love and condolence. Although there are some tradition like this can be seen in the cities, it is just the etiquette of theatrical people and those who imitate western practice. Among the residents of the cities in Bali sending artificial flower started to develop during1970s, but this trend seems to be withdrawing, and people back to the previous tradition, especially for Balinese residents.

Roses grows well every where on the land of Bali. We in Bali have 3 kind of Roses i.e. strong red color, white, and almost orange color. It will difference in color if the roses are planted in the highland or if it is planted on the low land. On the highland the color of roses grow very strong red, clean white or clear orange, but on the low land the color become fade and some time not solid. Some petals may grows unevenly. It is mostly grown by Balinese ladies as garden, not as materials for religious rituals. Any kind of roses which is grown on the highland will bear it's flowers without season, it will always giving flower all the months, except there is climate abnormality. Harvested flower provided it is put in the shade it can stay for 3 to 4 days, but if it is harvested with it flower stick long enough and put it's stick in the vas containing salty water it can stay for a week. The perfume of roses which is not strong, has also causing it is not popular among Balinese. It is different from Champaka which aroma is very strong and arousing. There are 3 divisions ofchampaka popular among Balinese are white champaka, yellow champaka, and Kananga. White champaka has the strongest aroma, while Kananga radiating a very typical aroma and arousing, the more it is dry the more strong it's fragrance. Despite the fact the development of hotel and Spa program in Bali, but Balinese do not see this opportunity as a business resources, they still plant just for self-sufficiency, and ironically flowers are imported from Java, as well as young palm leaves for the religious ceremony. After the tragedy of WTC and Kula, the number of tourist coming to Bali has been steadily declining, and these suppliers have now suffered, while alternative market yet be established.

It is actually a great chance to grow roses for the market of Singapore which is only 3 hours flight from Denpasar, Bali. Central highland of Bali is not yet cultivated well, mostly neglected, most younger generation moved to the city to pursue fancy jobs. The only problem it might be the technology to keep the flower stay fresh longer, at least a week until it arrived at the shops if the shop do not have freezer room. Cheap land hiring, plenty of cheaplow skill workers are great advantage to grow this kind of flower in the mountain area of Bali. Most of the land is used for short live vegetables, beans, and corns. These kind of horticulture is just for self-sufficiency with totally no business orientation, so most of the land is still empty, and some big parts are neglected. There are some long live plantation such as coffee, cacao, and various fruits which are also not get proper cultivation management.

Denpasar, 27 January 2003
I Made Terima
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