What is Penjor? Penjor is a bamboo pole decorated with palm leaves or coconut leaves, with flowers, fruits, and other natural material. This Penjor is made during religious festivals or holy days in Bali. It is usually placed in front of every house or in front of temples.
The Penjor is made resemble the mythical serpent. The bottom of the Penjor is supposed to be the serpent head, while the top is the serpent tail. The serpent is believed to bring prosperity, hence the Penjor is simply a prosperity symbol.
At home, when I make Penjor, I usually use decent size bamboo. And I could handle it by myself. In this competition, Penjors are bigger and more ornate than normal Penjor we made at home (at least, my home). Obviously, each contestant worked hard to present the best Penjor in term of design and creativity.
At around 8, I saw most of the contestants had placed their Penjor in front of the main temple in my town. This place is chosen to be the location for the competition because it was quite spacious. There were more than 50 Penjors founded on the ground in front of the temple.
There were few participants who just came bringing their Penjors on trucks. While I could carry my Penjor at home by myself, they required trucks to transport their Penjors
Once they arrived, they began to assemble their Penjors. More decoration was added to theirs.
I saw one Penjor which needed some people to secure it to the ground. So much effort was taken to make that Penjor.
By 9.30 all the Penjors had been placed or secured to the ground. The jury would then decide which of this Penjors would win. Each of the Penjor was actually belong to different villages in the regency where I live. It would be a pride for the village with the best Penjor. By the time this post is written, the winner has not been annouced yet.
