Hi everyone, I would like to share about holiday for animals we celebrate every 210 days in Bali.
The day of the animal always take place on Saturday. It is not any Saturday, but it is determined by the Balinese Lunar Calendar. On this Saturday, the Balinese go to the temple or just pray at home for their cattle or pets.
Last Saturday, on the animal holy day, I went to the village temple near my home. When I arrived at the temple, there were already few people there, including the chief of the Desa Adat or village.
The chief of the village, welcomed all the people to go into the inner yard of the temple. Sitting cross-legged on the ground in the inner yard, we prayed together lead by a local Balinese Hindu priest.
At the end of the ritual, the priest sprinkled holy water to all the people as a symbol of blessing from the God.
Once we finished praying, everybody went out to the outer yard. The chief of the village brought a small cage with 5 birds inside it. He got the birds from the bird market.
What did we do with the birds?
We set the birds free.
This was a symbolical activity for us to care about animals. Instead of having the birds in the cage, we released them to the nature. And, we prayed for their well-being.
There are about 1500 villages in Bali. Let say. every village set 5 birds free. So, in total there were about 7500 birds set free that day. And, it was not just birds, it could be another animal such as releasing turtle to the sea, and so on.
Thanks for visiting.
