Bali
Art and Culture - This is one of the most conservative
village of the original villages in Bali. This walled village is situated
on a valley and surrounded by hills. The villagers claim that their
ancestors were the origin people from Bedaulu kingdom. They always keep
their custom well with a strict rule in order to protect their purity.
There is a unique
legend about how they acquired their land:
In the 14th century, once upon a time the king of Bedaulu (means "He
Who Changed His Head") lost his favorite white horse. He ordered
all villagers from his kingdom to all directions to look for the horse.
A man from Tenganan found the cadaver of the horse. Then the king came
to see the cadaver of his lovely horse and he gave him a chance to ask
for a reward. The Tenganan man asked all the land where the cadaver
was found and all the area in which the carcass of the cadaver could
be smelt. The king agreed. Then he sent his official accompanied by
the chief of the village to check all the area mentioned. But after
many days the official still could smell the polluted air with the odor
of the dead horse. At last he decided that the land was enough as he
was very tired. He did not think why he always smelt the odor of the
cadaver. He did not know that the chief of the village who found the
cadaver was a very clever man. Before accompanying the official to check
the land, he took a small piece of very smelly remnant of the horse's
flesh and put it inside his sarong.
The popular product of Tenganan is the Kamben Songket Geringsing. They
color this hand-made cloth with natural color made from woods and stone.