Since it had rained during the last few days, we could visit our friend Kadek’s grave only today. Maybe you are as confused as I was first when seeing a grave now, although Kadek’s cremation already took place. But that’s because there are two cremations. We also didn’t know that before because none of our friends had ever told us.
At the first cremation, the body is cremated and the bones and ashes are put in the grave, where they stay until the second cremation takes place. Only at the second cremation, the final ashes are given to the sea and the soul can reincarnate.
Probably some of you will be even more confused now. Yes, this is Kadek’s grave because although this was his real name, nobody ever called him else than Kadek. That’s quite usual in Bali. Many of our friends have calling names that are far from their given names.
Just in case that somebody from the western world could wonder about the symbol on the tombstone. It’s a Swastika, a religious Hindu symbol. The bad guys used it standing on one of the edges. That’s a huge difference!
1 Pingback