The Bali Marathon With nearly 2,000 runners, this run around the Nusa Dua area is divided into two categories, a 10 km run and a half marathon of 21 km. The first Bali Marathons were popular mainly with Japanese and Indonesian runners, but in the most recent (there have been eight so far) there has been an increase in international interest, with participants from the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand competing.
International Kite Festival
The International Kite Festival is held at Tohpati north of Sanur,
usually in August when there's lots of wind but no rain. Kite enthusiasts
from Germany, the U.S.A., and Japan take part, launching extraordinary
kites of every shape and size: fantastic windsock kites, fighter kites,
hexagonal kites, and fish kites. Write Tracy Borders of Roman Associates
Inc., 1159 Verdemar Dr., Almeda, CA 94502. Also get ahold of Kite Lines
magazine, who has an issue devoted to Southeast Asia.
Surfing Competition
With the opening of the first Bali Surfing Club International Pro-Am
contest in 1980, Bali joined the international surfing community. Once
a year around July, the competition opens in true Balinese fashion with
40 local dancers. The event is attended by Bali's governor and foreign
ambassadors, while champion surfers from Hawaii, California, and Australia
serve as judges. The contest is held at Uluwatu or Padang Padang on the
Bukit Peninsula north of Kuta.
Bull Races
At Negara in Jembrana Regency, bull races are held between July and
October. Trained bulls are dressed in silk banners, their horns painted,
and big wooden bells placed around their necks. Each team is judged by
speed and style, and a lot of gambling takes place. Like Roman chariots
the beasts and their drivers come thundering and kicking up mud all the
way to the finish line. Jockeys whip and shout and twist the bulls' tails
to gain speed. This festival is staged to please the god of harvest, and
the winning bulls are used for stud.
Proklamasi Kemerdekaan
August 17 each year marks the anniversary of Indonesian independence
from Holland, declared in 1945 but not actually won until late 1949. The
biggest Indonesian national holiday, it's celebrated differently on each
island. On Bali, the national colors are draped over streets and public
buildings, and there's an official ceremony in Denpasar's alun-alun,
followed by speeches, games, public entertainment, performances, and parades
of schoolchildren. The tradition is that children and youth organizations
take part in the parades and marches, and the older generation look on.
Bali also has its own "National Memorial Day" which commemorates
the Battle of Marga in which a whole regiment of guerrilla fighters was
killed in the Marga rice fields (45 km northwest of Denpasar) by Dutch
ground forces and aerial bombardment after the end of WW II on 20 November
1946. A Hero's Ceremony is held each 20 November when the "Long March"
led by Lt. Col. Ngurah Rai to General Agung is reenacted by pemuda,
scouts, and soldiers, the older veterans looking on. This eight-hour march
to Denpasar lasts from evening until early morning. See under "North
of Tabanan" in the Tabanan Regency chapter.
Bersih Desa
Once enacted to remove evil spirits from the village, Bersih Desa has
lost most of its ritualistic significance. The ceremony takes place at
the rice harvesting, and in some Balinese communities it expresses gratitude
to the fertility figure Dewi Sri, the rice-goddess. Houses and gardens
are cleaned, fences whitewashed, and village roads and paths are repaired.
Kartini Day
Raden Kartini (1879-1903) was Indonesia's first women's emancipationist.
The daughter of the regent of Jepara, Kartini had a formal Dutch high-school
education and was offered a Dutch scholarship, but instead of continuing
her education, she was given in marriage and died in childbirth at age
24. Kartini's collection of published Letters, written to close
Dutch friends at the turn of the century, is now a modern classic.
Celebrated on 21 April, the day is marked with parades, lectures, and social
activities attended by women, schoolgirls, university teachers, female
workers, and members of women's organizations, all wearing traditional
dress. Like Mother's Day, mothers aren't allowed to work. Kids and fathers
do the cooking, washing, housecleaning, and other chores.
Bali Arts Festival
The rich Bali Arts Festival begins with a parade leading from Denpasar's
Puputan Square to the Werdi Budaya Art Centre on Jl. Nusa Indah. Usually
from June to July each year, the program might include a speech contest,
pop song and modern dance competition, music and drama contests, sendratari,
jegog, and bumbung gebyog production. There could also be a
Wayang Festival featuring master dalang from Solo and Yogya, the
audience almost entirely composed of Javanese. In 1994, a Festival Cak
was organized in which groups were invited to show the various vocal patterns
used in the form. An Arja Festival was also held.
Parties
In addition to disco nights, ladies nights, and various entertainment
offered by the hotels, discos, and clubs of Kuta and Legian, the Warisan
Resto in Krobokan holds their annual New Year's Eve Ball, transforming
this Italian bistro into a grand ballroom.