Skip to content
Illustrative photo

Balinese life

The banjar (local community), offerings, temple days and sawah (rice fields).
Read more
Quiet village road in Desa Kerobokan lined with palms and family gates

Community

The banjar

Every Balinese village is made of banjar, neighbourhood communities that meet at the bale banjar, the community hall. Neighbours plan ceremonies, share work and look after each other. Homestay Dewata belongs to Banjar Dinas Dalem.
See the location
Rows of canang sari made from banana leaf with orange and white flowersIllustrative photo

Every morning

Canang sari

Canang sari are small trays folded from palm leaf and filled with flowers. Families place them each day at shrines, doorways and crossroads. Please step around offerings on the ground.
Ask about your stay
Village street with family gates and tall penjor bamboo polesIllustrative photo

Through the year

Temple days

Ceremonies follow the Balinese calendar. Each temple has its odalan, an anniversary, and during Galungan and Kuningan, holy days that come round every 210 days, tall penjor, curved bamboo poles, line village streets. Visitors who join wear a kamen (sarong) and selendang (sash).
Ask about ceremony days
Young rice in a flat sawah with coconut palms on the horizonIllustrative photo

Rice and water

The sawah

Sawah are irrigated rice fields. Water is shared through subak, the cooperative irrigation system that Bali has used for centuries and that UNESCO lists as World Heritage.
Explore North Bali
Paved courtyard with a lumbung pavilion and tall coconut palms at Homestay Dewata

At home

Daily life at home

Family life happens outdoors, on terraces and pavilions around the courtyard. Guests share this rhythm: quiet early mornings, the sound of the village and the occasional preparation for a ceremony.
View rooms

Cultural interests

Tell us what interests you

You may be curious about these. None of them is a fixed activity: the family will tell you what is possible during your dates.
Share your interests

  • To be confirmed with the host

    Making canang sari

    Learning how the small daily offerings of palm leaf and flowers are folded and placed.

  • To be confirmed with the host

    Balinese home cooking

    Seeing how everyday Balinese dishes are prepared in a family kitchen.

  • To be confirmed with the host

    Attending a village ceremony

    Joining respectfully, in a kamen (sarong) and selendang (sash), if a ceremony falls on your dates.

  • To be confirmed with the host

    Gamelan or dance practice

    Listening to or watching rehearsals of gamelan, the bronze percussion orchestra, or Balinese dance.

  • To be confirmed with the host

    Walking through the sawah

    Walks along the rice fields and the subak water channels around the village.

  • To be confirmed with the host

    Banjar preparations

    Seeing how neighbours prepare together at the bale banjar, the community hall, before a ceremony.