Sunday, December 21, 2008

Pura Goa Lawah Temple Festival

Pura Goa Lawah Temple Festival
By: http://www.edwebproject.org/bali/gallery/goalawah.html

Pura Goa Lawah, the Bat Cave Temple, is located along the coast of southeastern Bali just west of Candidasa (see map). The center of the temple is built around a cave filled with thousands of bats. We visited the temple during a full moon festival; thousands of pilgrims were present, praying and making offerings. After the ceremonies, the pilgrims climbed into a caravan of buses and headed up Mt. Agung to continue the festivities at Pura Besakih, Bali's holiest temple.

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A large crowd gathered in the main pavilion of the temple.
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A girl in the crowd putting out her hand to receive a sprinkling of holy water.
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A lay priest distributing holy water to the crowd.
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Men lighting incense along one of the temple shrines.
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A man standing above a shrine, observing the crowd.
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Logjams occur at each entrance of the temple.
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Groups of women bring trays of offerings to the temple.
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Closeup of temple offerings.
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Having delivered the "spirit" of the offerings to the temple, women leave with the "remains" of the offerings: fruit and other produce they bring home to their families.
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Three girls walking through the complex. The swastika on the left side of the wall is an ancient Hindu symbol of luck; it is by no means seen as a Nazi symbol in Hinduism.
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Boys adjusting their costumes before entering the main sanctuary of the temple.
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At the heart of the temple, shrines mark the entrance to the bat cave, still populated by hordes of bats.
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Women bringing offerings to the bat cave.


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