DACMan

I must admit I get some of my inside scoop info on Bali from a completely unreliable source: Wayan Balik, my driver for these past five years.  I ask him about Bali traditions, beliefs, and practices because I like the stories he tells.  I love to laugh at his tales that he starts in earnest and gets caught up in his own fabrications the further he goes.  So I want you to know up front that the Wayan Balik Tales of Bali don’t necessarily reflect the beliefs and practices of anyone living in the Bali.  These stories, though presented as true, may in fact be nothing more than momentary glimpses into an alternate universe where such things do exist.

 

 

Bali…. According to Wayan Balik

Wayan: Today, father killed chicken.  Important day today.  Must make offering to Gods.
David:  Wayan, did you have to hold the chicken while he killed it?
Wayan:  Yes.  I hate.
David:  How long do you have to hold onto it?
Wayan:  As soon as father cut throat, I let go.  Ugh!  Chicken run around and make noises.  No choice Pak David.  For Gods on our special day.
David:  Will you eat chicken?
Wayan:  Yes.  Tonight!
Next day…
David:  Wayan, did you have chicken soup last night?
Wayan:  Family did.  Mother, father, wife, kids all did.  (Disappointment clearly showing).  I got home and it all was eaten but 2 spoons.

B.P.

Wayan:  It’s raining today like B.P.
David:  B.P?
Wayan:  Yes, today is more like honey bee pee.  Sometimes more like bumble bee pee.  LOL

Bali and Wayan Balik

Geckos

1. When a gecko “talks” during a human conversation, it mean that what was just said is the truth.  Gecko is like a witness.
2. Half a kilogram of gecko is worth a lot in China as a medicine.  There’s a gecko farm in central Java.  Big money/kilo.
3. When the gecko is “talking” in the evening or night, he says, “gecko, gecko, gecko” over and over.  Sometimes I count up to 24 “geckos.”  In Bali, if you count, it tells your fortune.  “Gecko rich, gecko poor, gecko rich, gecko poor….”
4. A gecko in your home brings good luck I’ve noticed (yes, good luck along with gecko poop on my bed, furniture, floors & towels, I notice)
5. Wayan tells me that lightning will hit your house if a gecko lives there, or so his father believes.  That’s why his father hates geckos and is always trying to chase them out of the house.  They are some sort of magnet for lightning.

Wayan Stories

Shorts:

“Eat ’til pregnant”

“Running chicken good for everything.”  Health, (etc?) it’s “organic” (Wayan’s definition of free-range chickens).  Not like pig – pig only taste delicious but bad for body.

Wayan Stories: Chickens

Wayan:  The healer/shaman came to our house today and told my father to do new things for health and good luck.
David:  What new things did he say to do?
Wayan:  He said to make offering of 1/2 grill chicken to one of the gods.  Father asked me to hold chicken’s legs while he killed chicken.  “Oopff!  I didn’t like!  Not feel good.  Chicken has life.  Maybe this is your influence on me, Pak David.  (I’m vegetarian).
David:  What’s 1/2 grill chicken?
Wayan:  Oh!  Means 1/2 cooked whole chicken.  When healer says to do In Bali, you must do like this.  It must sound funny to you.
David:  No Wayan.  Not funny.  I want to know about these things.
Wayan:  Healer is creative!  New idea: half grill chicken.  Funny guy.
Wayan:  Neighbor’s chicken always come over to my yard and I throw stones.
David:  Why?
Wayan:  They shit and eat my grass from roots.
David:  How many come to visit you?
Wayan:  10 or 15 of neighbors.
David:  You have chickens?
Wayan:  Only my father.  He has chicken.  Enough poop.  My uncle has pig and piglets.  Stinky.

Wayan:  My uncle likes rooster.  He likes good color and good form.
David:  How do you know what’s good?
Wayan:  Uncle like green rooster with yellow leg.  Java rooster good fighter, good color, but never take care of baby chick.

First conversation of the day on the way to the warehouse:
Wayan:  No more chicken stories.
David:  Why?  I like chicken stories.
Wayan:  I told you all.  The rest not interesting.  Not interesting for me.

5 minutes of quiet driving pass…

Wayan:  Chickens not eating grass now.
David:  Why did they stop?
Wayan:  Bored with grass.
David:  How do you know bored?
Wayan:  Oh.  Termite.  They eat termite now.  More delicious than grass.

Always laughing…

Wayan Stories:

On the road to Kerobokan:

David:  What’s happening today?  Extra big offerings at my house.
Wayan:  Not a good day for animals today.  Except human.  It’s “Slaughter Day” in Bali.  We offer every animal to the gods today, from cricket to cow, in pairs for each animal.
David:  Does everyone participate?  Seems like a lot of work hunting down a pair of everything to make offering.
Wayan:  Really, mostly the pigs need to worry.
David:  What about chickens?
Wayan:  Chickens only worry now if people tired of pigs.
David:  You kill pigs today for the gods?
Wayan:  Yes.
David:  What parts of the pigs do the gods get?
Wayan:  Lungs and intestines.
David:  You eat the rest?
Wayan:  Yes, everything.
David:  What about the testicles?
Wayan:  Oh!  No!  We give to dogs.
David:  What do the gods think about getting only what you won’t eat?
Wayan:  They don’t mind.
David:  Why?
Wayan:  Everybody is praying to them for two weeks non-stop, asking for things.  The gods get tired.  They just want to rest and be left alone.  After two weeks, they don’t care.

David: “Why all the huge offerings at the house this morning?  There’s fruit, cake, candy, and extra flowers along with the usual offerings. It must be a big Day!”
Wayan: “Today is the day the God come to Earth to check things out, say hello, see his creation like you, like me, like dog.  So special offering.”
D: “But God comes often, new moon, full moon, and…”
W: “Yes, lots of times, but today special.  No planting rice today. Day to recharge, replace energy used on magic.  Important day in Bali.”
D: “So the God are really busy today.  Lots to see and do.”
W: “Yes, Pak David. October and November really busy in Bali for the God.  Lots of holiday, temple ceremony.  I think they get tired.”
D: “Don’t they ever get a break? Vacation? Weekend off?”
W: “No, no day off for the God.”

W: “In Bali we’re lucky to have the volcanoes. Where else would we get all the building materials, the sand, stone, and fertile soil?”

W: “I like to talk, but no idea (pointing to his head). Not much material [to work with.]”

Wayan picked me up at the house at 9:00am and we drove straight to the warehouse and spent the full day there. Wayan napped, ate, and chatted with the carvers all day. At 5:00pm, as we were leaving, I asked him:
D: “Where did the day go, Wayan?”
W: “Mmm, Pak David, I forget.”

One morning, while driving to the warehouse, I asked Wayan:
D: “Why do you do as little praying and temple work as possible, unlike most Balinese who spend much of their lives on ceremonies and community work?”
Wayan, with his simple honesty said: “The God knows I’m busy, so it’s OK with him if I don’t go to the temple. I’m working, making money for my family. That’s right action. God understands.”

Wayan: “Lots of ghosts running around last night.”
David: “Yah, something turned our electric off last night for a few hours.”
Wayan: “Yes.  See, ghosts.”

Wayan:  “Big flood at my house last week.”
David:  “What did you do?”
W:  “Just watching, watching. Dead motorbike, dead car out in the road.”
D:  “Any dead animals?”
W:  “Ha ha, yes! Dead chicken came floating down in flood. North to south. My father and his friend went after chicken, but my father lose. Friend got chicken. Next day friend brought chicken soup.”

D:  “Wayan, you look like you are thinking.”
W:  “No, no, no thinking.”
D:  “Do you ever think too hard?”
W:  “Only my kids.”
D:  “Your kids?”
W: “Yes, my kids. They make me stress. Then my brain hurt, get confuse.”

W: “My Father, he don’t like gecko. Lightning follows gecko. (Gecko is magnet for lightning.) Afraid of lightning. Primitive thinking.  Yes, gecko broke wall watch last night.”
D: “Wall watch? Oh. How did gecko break the clock?”
W: “Well, my father broke the wall watch fighting with gecko. He asked me to help catch gecko but I don’t like the feel of skin, ugh. So I said No, I won’t touch.”

D: “Why does your dad hate cats, really?”
W: “Cats are fuzzy.”

W:  “My uncle has a new dog.”  (Wayan, his family, and parents all live in the same family compound with his uncle and his family, but they live in different houses).  “I complain to uncle. Dog poop everywhere and bring mud in my house.”

D: “Oh, so you didn’t get a new dog, your uncle did instead?”

W: “Yes, Pak David, only uncle has dog now. When I had dog, he complain to me. Now I can complain!”

D: “Wayan, why dogs?”

W: “Must have dog in Bali.”

D: “For what?”

W: “To protect!”

D: “From what? What for?”

W: “Forrrrr…  forrrrr… for like classic protection, you know, Dogs.” (We’re both laughing now).  “Actually, I don’t like dog. I hate cleaning up dog poop, dog print, but when my dog die, Pak David, I cry. I really cry! My kid too, crying all day.”

When I hop in the car with Wayan Balik, my driver, I know within minutes we will have some outlandish conversation about Bali, life, or the Gods.  We egg each other on until some aspect of life becomes a take from my new film, “The Three Stooges Meet Fellini.”  Anything is fair game, no matter how serious the subject, and the goal is to make each other laugh.

Yesterday I asked Wayan, “What will the topic be today?”  He replied, “we’ll know in a few minutes when we’re not thinking.”  How true.  The conversation went something like this:

W: “I had to kill four chicken this morning for ceremony. I don’t like it.”

D: “Oh, right, it’s Metal Day, (the day when Balinese bless/honor everything made of metal, from cars to Kris knives).  I thought your father killed the chickens.”

W: “No. He bought the chicken, organic chicken (ha ha), but he is really bad chicken killer!  Last time he tried to kill one, blood everywhere, but chicken still alive running around. Bad.”

D: “So now you have to do it.  Are you a good chicken killer?”

W: “Yes, but I hate it.  At ceremony time, Bali is a legal killing zone.  (We both laugh, followed by a long thoughtful pause).  But such is life.”

D: “Can’t you just hire someone to do the killing?”

W: “No, Pak David, it’s bad in my village to do that.”

D: “Oh, you mean you look bad to the other people in the village, like you are a chicken, chicken killer?”  (Laughing)

W: “Yes, everyone would talk and my family would be hurt.  My sister came to help my Mother with the ceremony.  She knew she would get half the chickens!”

D: “Do you have to kill pigs for the big ceremonies?”

W: “No, for that we can hire professionals, thank Gods.”

D: “Thank Gods!  In America, if we had to kill our own animals to eat, I think we would be 95% vegetarian.”

W: “I would rather be vegetarian and not have to kill, but I do like chicken!”

D: ” Especially organic ones.”

There is a certain rawness to the Zion carvings we make in “The Studio”.  While this work has a strong lyrical quality, its beauty is expressed through a gritty honesty, not prettiness. From the chisel marks that show, you can almost feel the coarseness of the rock. This character reminds me both of the wood we used to carve the pieces and the rough textures of nature.

I have tried in my fifty or so trips to Southern Utah to capture this landscape through photography by taking from 50-1000 shots per trip. Never have I been able to touch the sacred beauty of Zion on film, but somehow, I can’t give up trying. Though seemingly impossible, I none-the-less have had to try again to capture Zion by carving its likeness in wood.

Amazingly, these carvings do capture the spirit of Zion, bringing back the beauty and awe of those canyons. Where my photographs have failed, these carving inspire and give me life. They remind me to return again to the places I most love.