Week 1: Taman Ayun Temple (A picture a day)

Photo taken outside Taman Ayun Temple at Kapal, Bali using iPhone 5 camera and edited with iOS app

The women were lining up orderly to enter the Taman Ayun Temple, a Hindu temple for a religious procession. I found it peculiar that there were no men spotted at all in the long queue. It is a rule for women and men to wear long skirts or pants in order to enter temples in Bali. This is to show respect regardless of your own religion. Men or women who do not obey the dress code will be given a sarong to wrap around their lower body.  

I loved how the bright pink waistbands and the tip of the headpiece stood out from their white top and the white cloudy sky. Pink is strongly associated with femininity and in this case I think it shares a relationship with the lotus flower. In Hinduism, the lotus flower, which is often pink, represents the awakening of the soul towards the highest form of spiritualism. 

The line was almost seamless and despite the scorching heat, the women maintained their poise in balancing their headgear. The headgear contains seems to be heavy, containing offerings for the temple. Offerings are called banten in Balinese. It is possible that the word comes from the Sanskrit word bali, which means tribute, obligation or gift. It may also be derived from the word enten, which means to wake up or be conscious. It is a consciousness of the gods.