We witnessed our first Balinese festival today with the Ceremony of the Barong (the Barong is the good guy in Balinese mythology, and king of the good spirits with a lion-like face. Several guys dance comically inside the Barong costume to bring him to life). We'll no doubt learn much more about the Balinese culture while we're here (we're in Bali for another month), but from what I understand today is "Kajeng Kilwon" which is a day with equal good and bad spirits present, so additional offerings are made to the gods. Although you can easily find the dances catered for tourists, what we saw today was part of a local festival so it felt quiet special. Bea and Ili were the only Western kids. We stayed to the end in the pouring rain to see the Barong comically dance — the kids favourite. The costumes and dances were incredible, and the Barong costume itself was made of thousands of feathers. Quite amazing.
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