Our last day in Ubud - Balinese Hindus Tumpek Landep day

Saturday 24th August

It was our last full day in Ubud so we went for another walk into the countryside. As we left our room and walked through the streets we noticed more offerings around than usual….loads of them in fact piled on the cars and bikes! We were told that the 24th of August 2013 was the day that Balinese Hindus celebrate “Tumpek Landep”, a religious day for metal goods. It was a special day set aside on the Balinese calendar to give thanks to Sang Hyang Pasupati, Lord of heirlooms, for the creation of metal goods.

Specific offerings are made in the home for kitchen implements, garden tools and metallic parts of machinery, vehicles and the like. Builders generally take a day off to make offerings for their work tools.

This special day is devoted to Sang Hyang Pasupati, Lord of heirlooms, weapons and metal tools for proper function and magical power. The celebration is held at every house compound and temple.

With these offerings, special prayers are said to pray to God so that these material things continue to be strong and bring good fortune to their owners.

Offerings are also given to any kind of vehicles after being cleaned. (That explains why the guys around our accommodation were washing their motorbikes even more carefully than usual last night and again this morning)

We had a lovely three and a half hour walk through the rice paddy fields.

There was an ‘old’ man under all that vegetation

Tall bamboo

Close up of the bamboo (didn’t see any Pandas!)

Ducklings growing up with the rice growing in the fields……. a meal in the making (wink)

We had walked for hours and suddenly came across a little house where this young girl was washing clothes on a stone in the ‘stream’ I thought I had died and gone to heaven! (Chuckle)

Earlier on through the rice fields we saw a similar ‘stream’ with poo floating down it!

Hope they were not linked!

We have been enjoying the Dragonflies, Gekos (there are at least 7 or 8 on the walls of the ‘Warungs’ we are eating in at any time) Lizards, Herons, beautiful large colourful Butterflies and the odd bat. We love seeing and hearing the Insects too, however I can’t help but think that we did not need to come 7,000 plus miles to experience those things. The thing is at home we do not go for walks for three or four hours at a time in to the countryside anymore. Something that must change when we get back…… Bulls Hills here we come! Mum and Dad, I think after thirty years it is time we took Glen there (smile) don’t you think!?

Motorbikes……. We have seen them with shops on the back, four or even five people hanging on, with huge metal structures for building a house, a very high stack of egg boxes, home-ware shop, a tea shop, food stalls etc…..but the best so far that made us laugh was a bike with one guy driving and the other guys hands behind him pulling a wheelbarrow!!!

Our last accommodation in Ubud not only overlooked a rice field but a huge open sided village hall. We went to see inside and tried to speak to the local people before we left. They have been working there each day since we arrived and we wondered what they were doing from 7am until 5pm happily all day. Apparently they were weaving and decorating huge baskets for offerings and making special items to go inside ready for some celebration on 21st September. The Balinese man we spoke to knew a little English and tried to explain, we couldn’t understand what celebration but no doubt it would be a religious one. We just about understood that they enjoyed doing it and would be sad that they would all soon be finished with the preparations and would go back to their homes. The way they were dressed and the work they were doing was not for tourists but for themselves, the locals. The Balinese Hindu faith and its rituals seem to rule their daily lives. Maybe it is what makes them such kind and gentle people.