The original inhabitants of Bali are called the Bali Aga who inhabited Bali prior to the Majapahit arrival of artists, noblemen and priests from Java island. There are only a couple of villages left where they live and where they still practice their ceremonies, dance, music and religion.
The most accessible and also interesting one is the village of Tenganan on the road between Padang Bai and Amlapura. There are no hotels or guesthouses in the village so your best option is to sleep in Candidisa, which is only 3km down the road.
Don't be surprised to see lots of tourist shops at the parking lot though, the Bali Aga here have embraced tourism as means of additional income.
The village, which looks more like a museum is around 500m by 250m large and has a rectangular shape, something you can't find in any of the other villages on Bali. From the looks of the streets and the houses it's easy to conclude that it's a poor village but nothing is more true, it is said that they are the richest village in the whole of Bali.
Has tourism played such a role that they make enough to be called the richest village in the whole of Bali?
It's not because of tourism, that's just for show. The Bali Aga own more fertile land around the holy mountain of Gunung Agung than any other community on Bali and they rent it out so they can focus more on other things such as ceremonies and chit-chatting.
Their village has strict rules and regulations and because of it approximately only 300 live in the village. It used to be that those that didn't follow the rules had to leave the village. For instance the customary village law forbade anybody to marry outside the village, polygamy or to divorce.
99% of the population has blood type O and you can see in their faces that there's lots of inbred in the village.
Because of the strict rules many have left and there's a population growth of zero, which had led to a new interpretation of the rules. So now it's OK to marry somebody from outside the village. The one from outside the village has to undergo a fake cremation ceremony to return to the village as a new Tenganan inhabitant.
Tenganan is famous under the Balinese for their double-ikat cloths. Every house seems to have ikat demonstration ready for you to see. It takes the women months on end to produce one and some can take up to seven years for the traditional 'kamben geringsing'. These have patterns, which the villagers believe were designed by God Indra himself.
The Bali Aga believe they are the chosen ones by God Indra and mix their Hindu beliefs with their animistic spirit belief just like the rest of Bali.
Besides producing double ikat cloths they are really good in basket weaving and painting epics from the Ramayana on lontar leaves, which they sell as calendars. They also play an old-fashioned version of the gamelan instrument here, called the 'gamelan selunding' and girls dance an ancient dance called the 'Rejang'.
Another thing that is different from the rest of Bali is the burying of the death instead of cremation.
If you have the time to visit interesting Tenganan village, try to arrive early in the morning before all the tourist buses arrive. You have the whole village to yourself and enough time to ask the villagers all sorts of questions.
Enjoy your trip! by Matt Verbaan
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