DEATH in BALI

When a person dies in Bali, his family and friends are not usually sad. For them, death is begining of another life.The dead person will come back in the world in another shape. Before this happens, his old body must go. In some countries the dead body is put in the ground. In other countries and in some places in Bali, the body is put on top of the ground or in a tree. The body is thanoften eaten by animal. But usually in Bali, the dead body is burned. After it is burned, the dead person can easly come back to live in this world. Because of this burning of the body is a happy time. When a bad person comes back to earth, he is a dog or snake. A good person will have a better life, than his first life. The burning of the bodyis very expensive. Some people save mony for this when they are still living. When the man dies, his family cornes to this house. They bring present of food. They cannot burn the body on any day. They wait for the correct day. Sometimes the body is put in the nose, some iron is put on the teeth and arm, and some glass is puton the eyes. When the dead man comes back to earth for his next life, he will strong arm and teeth, good eyes and will smell of nice things. Usually the body is the ground for fortytwo days. After this the family take the body out of the ground. They bring it to house. When everything is done, the body is ready for burning. It is put on the top of a  wooden tower. This tower is very beautiful and expensive. The family and their friends than go in a line to the burning place. Some men and women walk in front. Then come the men with the tower. They do not walk in straight line. They run from one side of the road to the other an turn around. This keep bad things away frm the body.
There is a long rope from the tower.People in the dead men's family  hold tjis rope and walk in front. At the burning place  the family look at the body again. All the time, music is played. The body is put on the burning place. The noise of the music and the people is very loud. Then the body is burned. After the burning, some pieces of the bones are taken to the sea or a river and they are thrown into the water. The people wash in the water and than they go home.
Because burning a body is more expensive, sometimes people burn severel bodies at the same time. This is cheaper because not so many tower are needed. The burning are very noisy. There is a lot of of shouting smoke and noise.