And what’s more!
Agung and his young bride both had two days off to visit Blimbingsari with me on the coming Saturday and Sunday--as this particular weekend was the weekend of the Hindu holiday which concludes the Balinese New Years’ celebration: The weekend is called Kunningan and Manis Kunningan.
Happily, the very next evening in Denpasar, I, in fact, found Agung and his wife waiting for me in the Bali Church of Christ in Denpasar the next night as I arrived. By the way, his wife had been Hindu before the marriage, so there is much that the new Mrs. Agung doesn’t know about the Christian world yet--but that she is getting to know about these days.
On Friday night, prior to my journey with Agung and his wife to Bimbingsari, Agung drove by my hotel in Tanjung Benoa and showed me the great variety of costumes at the three weddings which had taken place in December 2007 at the nearby palace of the Agung’s family and at the church in Blimbingsari.
At one point, Agung noted as we looked at the photo albums that his wife was sad because she was saying good-bye to her family Gods during one of the ceremonies.
I was touched by this and impressed by how love had combined people of two different faiths.
Interestingly, the marriage has enabled Agung to have greater insight into traditional Balinese holidays, like Kuningan as he now depends on his wife to occasionally transmit or relate cultural information to him. This information he can use in his job to pass on answers to guests’ queries at the Conrad Hotel. (Guests are always asking questions about the various Balinese customs, and Agung is not nearly so intimately familiar to these traditions as his wife is—as she grew up in a traditional Hindu Balinese household with its temples and ceremonies.)
ON TO BLIMBINGSARI
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