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BALI, INDONESIA, October 31, 2005: The whole area of Kuta Square Arcade, one of the sites targeted by terrorists in the October 1 Bali bombings, was transformed into a sacred space on Sunday, when hundreds of Balanese Hindus held a ceremony to purify the site. The Tawur Balik Sumpah ceremony started at around 10 a.m. amid tight security arrangements, under which all guests and participants were required to pass through metal detectors before entering the site. Over 100 uniformed and plainclothes security officers guarded the area and its vicinity. Moreover, a bomb containment vehicle was stationed next to the ceremony’s main entry point. Scores of high-ranking government and security officials, including Badung Regent Anak Agung Gede Agung and Denpasar Police chief Sr. Com. Dewa Made Parsana, attended the ceremony along with leaders of Kuta’s traditional communities. The ritual’s inner sanctum was located in the middle of the two-way lane that ran across the shopping complex. It lay just a few meters south of the noodle and steak restaurant Raja’s, where a suicide bomber and dozens of guests were killed in the blast on the night of Oct. 1. The inner sanctum consisted of the tall bamboo shrines of Sanggar Surya to the east, a low rectangular ground enclosure, where most of the colorful offerings were placed, in the middle and the elevated open pavilion of Bale Pawedan to the west. Three officiating Hindu high priests — Ida Pedanda Putra Bajing of Lebah, Ida Pedanda Bodha of Celuk and Ida Rsi Bujangga of Sempidi — were sitting on the pavilion, chanting sacred mantras and directing scores of Pemangku (temple priests) through each step of the ritual. The ceremony began with an offering of aesthetic beauty, comprising sacred performing arts of Prembon dance drama, Sidhakarya masked dance and Wayang Lemah puppet theater. However, it was the sacred dance of Rejang Dewa, performed by dozens of beautiful little girls, that drew the most attention. Through slow, simple moves and gestures, these girls were an exquisite example of the Balanese’s aesthetic devotion to their Gods. Tawur Balik Sumpah is basically a sacrificial ritual of appeasement.

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