During your visit in Bali , you will undoubtedly step on a basket filled with rice and flowers or two. These are small offering baskets called ‘canang sari ‘ that Balinese offer to their Gods three times a day. What are these baskets for, and why do people place them on the sidewalks?
These little tributes are perched all over the city and could be as simple as a small and fragrant frangipani adorning each and every step leading into a housing compound. The offerings are simply everywhere! They put it on the sidewalks, steps, statues, and temples.
It is basically a ritual of giving back what has been given to you by the Gods. It is a sharing that is not based upon fear, but on gratitude to the richness of life. Offering appeases the spirits and brings prosperity and good health to the family. It is a duty and an honour at the same time, and in Balinese perspective a very natural and almost logical thing to maintain a good relationship between people and spirits. It is the daily nature-based worship of Balinese Hinduism.
Here the description about some offerings in Bali:
BANTEN SAIBAN or JOTAN is a daily offering that is offered everyday after cooking or before eating. It is very simple consisting of a pinch of rice with other food like vegetable or fish or meat, on a small piece of banana leaf/other leaf.Balinese women carry Gebogan on their head and walk to the temple for the big ceremony.GEBOGAN are towering offerings constructed around the base of a banana trunk. Prepared by the woman of the house hold, they are presented to the deities at temples birthdays. Typically, the first layer is composed of fruits followed by layers of rice cakes in many shapes and colors.A Penjor is an offering in the form of a tall, decorated bamboo pole whose gracefully curving upper end is said to resemble both the tail of the barong, symbol of the goodness, and the peak of the sacred mountain, Mount Agung. Penjor are placed in front of each Balinese compound for the Galungan holiday and an also used in conjunction with important temple ceremony and life-cycle rituals.Fire, water, and flowers are the basic components of all offerings; additional items are given according to one’s profession and wealth, and the season in which they’re made. No matter what the offering, it must be of the finest ingredients and ritually cleansed before being placed. If you go to the traditional market you will see a lady who sells colorful flowers for offerings CANANG SARI. Offering made of palm leaf, flowers and foodstuffs are an art form associated with every ritual occasion in Bali. The Balinese belief in the forces of the invisible world dictates that offerings be created with a spirit of thankfulness and loving attention to detail. The Balinese seem never to tire of producing these colorful and highly symbolic, ephemeral creations for every ritual, from the simplest daily household offering to the gods, demons, and ancestors to massive ceremoniesA Lady give offerings and praying at the templeWomen in Balinese culture have duties in preparing the offerings. Families and neighbours come together to make the offering. It is also the events of socializing.
