2016-10-04

Early Morning Ngaben (Cremation)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

by Neil Godfrey

Woke up to my first morning in the world’s largest Muslim nation, though this trip I am in a corner that mixes Muslim with Hindu, Buddhist and animist traditions – Bali. As I stepped out of my very basic but comfortable enough hotel I walked into the following:

It’s a cremation ceremony. Ngaben (pronounced Nah-Ben). I’ve seen a few of these now so I did not wait to see all the doings right through this time. This was the first time I got close enough on the beach to see the body, however. No doubt wishing to look directly into my own mortality. An old man. It was a good seeing so many taking great care to give him a reverential send-off. Not too many years and I’ll be like him. I left smiling, warmly assured. He was so peaceful and loved.

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3 thoughts on “Early Morning Ngaben (Cremation)”

junego says:

2016-10-04 10:49:01 GMT+0000 at 10:49

What a wonderful and fascinating look into another culture. Thank you!.

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Christine Veazey says:

2016-10-04 17:30:24 GMT+0000 at 17:30

Lucky you to be there!

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Bob Jase says:

2016-10-04 20:27:32 GMT+0000 at 20:27

That is not what I want when I order toast for breakfast.

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