Ngaben Ritual

Bali is not only famous for its beautiful beaches and natural resources, but also its traditions and rituals. Once of the rituals which always attracts interest for domestic and foreign tourists is Ngaben ritual. Ngaben or the Cremation Ceremony is the ritual performed to send the dead through the transition to his next life. It is the ceremony where the corpse is burnt, accompanied by holy songs and offering. It is believed that ngaben can return the soul of the dead to heaven. Ngaben is also one of the forms of a respect to parents by releasing the soul from worldly attachments. In conducting ngaben ceremony, members of the family must not cry over the dead because it is believed that tears can incommode the deceased journey to their eternal abode.

When someone dies, the body should be placed at a place called Bale Delod, as if the person were sleeping. The family should treat that person as if s/he were still alive while sleeping. None of the family should cry since s/he is gone only temporary and s/he will certainly reincarnate into the family.

Before conducting Ngaben ritual, the family should consult a priest to determine the best day to conduct the ritual. Then, the family should build a stage as a place to bath the dead body, continued by making a buffalo shaped sarcophagus to put and burn the corpse. All members of the family should give their last respect and pray that the dead somehow will get a better place in heaven. Then, corpse is put into a temple structure made of bamboo and paper and carried into the grave yard, followed by flock of people. In this carrying process, traditional music and holy mantra should accompany the dead.

At the graveyard, the corpse, is then moved into the buffalo, then both the corpse and the buffalo are burnt. After the burning process is done, the ash is brought and thrown to the sea or river. When the ceremony is completed, the dead is believed will be back and reincarnate into the family.

To get more detail information about this interesting Ngaben ritual or ceremony, watch the VIDEO. The video downloaded from youtube will give you information about the process of the ceremony as you read the passage.

Have you finished watching the video? Now, do the exercise below.

Exercise 1

Arrange these jumble words into good sentences based on the passage and video about Ngaben.

1.Accompany – ritual – offerings – holy – and – always – songs - Ngaben
2.Ngaben – is - better –at – returning –soul – of –the– the – dead – to – a –place – aimed –in - heaven.
3.stage a –– to – bath – the – corpse – is – built – before – conducting – the – Ngaben - ritual.
4.heaven – will –down – slow –the –of – the –journey –dead – soul – to – the - tears.
5.the – person – will – dead – to – the – completed – family – reincarnate – after – ceremony – Ngaben - is.

Exercise 2

Write T if the statement true according to the passage, F if the statement in contradiction with the passage and NG if the statement cannot be found in the passage.

1.Bali is only famous for its natural beauty.
2.Ngaben is one of the ceremonies conducted by Hindu people to send the soul of the dead people to a better place in heaven.
3.During Ngaben ceremony, the members of the family are not allowed to cry.
4.Before conducting Ngaben ceremony, the family should consult to the head of the village.
5.The dead person will reincarnate to his family as a child.