"The Balinese call their island Pulau Dewata, the Islands of the Gods. Throughout Bali there are thousands of temples (pura), large and small, dedicated to the Hindu-Balinese religion, the religion of most of Bali's 4.5 million people. Each village has at least 3 temples: the temple of death (pura dalem), the temple of origin (pura puseh), and the temple for the gods' council (pura desa or pura bale agung). Also, every family has its own temple within the house yard (sanggah or mrajan), and a family-origin temple for the family clan (pura dadia).
An odalan is the anniversary or birthday of Hindu-Balinese temple. It is a festival that signifies the day the temple was initially completed and the day the gods, the sanghyang widhi wasa, were first invited to attend. An odalan celebration is held every 210 days, which is a year in the Balinese calendar. As there are so many temples in Bali, several odalan are celebrated on almost any day.
There are different kinds of odalan... (source)"
I've witnessed an odalan. In the beginning of November, I saw Ketut the driver/gardener preparing the shrines of our landlady's place. With my little knowledge of Indonesian, I could understand that an odalan (which at that time I knew nothing about) was to happen that day and that it was a family ceremony. Li and me went after Ketut and took some pictures of him adorning the shrines. Only later did I understood a bit better what it was. That evening a priest would go to the family-origin temple (which is in another place) and celebrate a ceremony and when the time came our landlady would go to certain spots of her place (since it belongs to the family clan) and made the offerings. When I saw her preparing herself for it, I asked if it was OK for me to join her. She explained me a bit about the ritual and her relation with it, which is one of respect. In very little words, all the spirits, positive and negative, are made offerings to keep the balance of the universe and hence protect the family.
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