A Trip to Bali (Part 3)

It is a custom in Bali to give offerings to the spirits. With Hindu as its major religion, well-decorated offerings are ubiquitous. There are some which are placed accordingly on the streets, in traditional markets, in restaurants, at home, and other places you can imagine. The offerings are mostly made placed in a bowl which made out of leafs. Flowers, shaped rice, and fruits are what you usually find inside these leaf-based bowls. It is said that the offerings are like food to the spirits. They indulge on the aroma of the food so that they will have energy to survive through the day. A bit funky, huh? 

At Aunt Tami's house, to celebrate the blessing of the newborn baby, she build a large table just to place the offerings. Lots of fancy colors decorated the table. I was aware by the fact that crackers, shaped rice, fruits, leafs, flowers, and even ropes were used as offerings. The female workers, who happen to be Aunt Tami's acquaintances, prepared the table along with its offering for around one and a half hour. The three of them worked together as a team to make a luxurious table of gifts for the spirits.

The eldest female worker, who was in charge of decorating the table with the offerings

The Dynamic Duo, hand-in-hand carefully selecting the leaf-based bowls
to be placed on the rather large table of offering

One of the female worker was cutting a coconut to decorate the offerings

A combination of rice, flowers, and ropes as parts of the offerings

Those were the equipment and tools that were used to prepare the whole thing 

Some bananas, oranges, crackers, and shaped rice for the spirits

The thought of spirits need food to "live" never crossed my mind before

A container of mini ketupat and slices of eggs, and some shaped rice

There were lots of fruits and leafs on the table, I got flustered

I spotted some salted eggs in some of the leaf bowls

A luxurious offering table was luxurious indeed

An image of one of the offerings that were beautifully decorated 

A few done,  a few dozens to go

The sun was setting, but the female workers were still diligently decorating the table

This particular colorful offering caught my attention. I wonder what
that is and why it is rich in colors..

Offerings for the baby's placenta, which was buried on the
ground, adjacent to the baby's older brother's placenta

Who would have thought that spirits need food to "live"?