Balinese wedding

Gede, our gardener invited us all of Jiwa Damai to his wedding. And what a wedding it was! Here you see the groom and the bride in their incredible festive traditional Balinese clothing and make up. Both are very heavily makeup, as tradition demands. I was told it took five hours to prepare it.

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The festivity went from early night the previous day to early morning two days later. About 1000 people were invited and fed throughout this time.

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We invite you to discover the Balinese culture by staying at Jiwa Damai in Bali. Find out more by visiting our website!

Guests on Kuningan

In June, the Balinese people celebrate the Kuningan, one of the highest holidays in Balinese Hindu Religion. On this occasion, we received the visit of these four lovely youths. Three of them were the children of Wira, our external liaison person and one, the neighbors’ daughter. They looked so lovely all dressed up in their festive ceremonial clothes. The boys with their traditional head dresses and the girls in their little sarongs and blouses with a scarf wrapped around.

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We invite you to discover the Balinese culture by staying at Jiwa Damaiin Bali. Find out more by visiting our website!

Balinese blessing ceremony

This Sunday brought a surprise to Jiwa Damai. Wira’s family came, mother, wife and brother to dedicate and bless the new car. Looking at all the various offerings which they had prepared and brought, it was still considered a small ceremony. The hood of the car was covered with special cloth and decorated with fresh flowers. Goods, fruits and other items were offered to the gods, on the left for the negative energies to leave and on the right for the positive to come in. It was all sprinkled with holy water and supported with incense smell. The lower part of the car was hung with elaborate bamboo creations and will remain on the car.

balinese ceremony at Jiwa DAmai

balinese ceremony at Jiwa DAmai

balinese ceremony at Jiwa DAmai

balinese ceremony at Jiwa DAmai

We invite you to discover the Balinese culture by staying at Jiwa Damai in Bali. Find out more by visiting our website!

Barong Festival

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In the banjar(village) of Wira, our Foundation president, many ceremonies unfolded these last few weeks. Here is our intern Natalie with the village ladies carrying the Barong, a type of a lion-dragon monster, through the whole village. In the next picture you'll see our Volunteer from New York dressed in traditional festival garb with Wira in the front of a beautifully carved door at Wira's home. Kevin being very tall, the sarong is a bit short on him.

Preparing the Jiwa Damai Open House

During August we celebrated the Jiwa Damai Open House day and we are happy to share now some of those moments.

Early morning balloon blowing in preparation for our Open House at Jiwa Damaifor our team and guests. They were given to the children of our local team members. It seems that the adults have much fun blowing them up as many were exploding as well :)

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Working with the coconuts

Kadek, one of our Balinese Team member is picking and packing the shells left after opening the coconuts in bags. We use them in our gardens or we sell them.

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Tyron is opening the kernel of the coconut and Sabine our Austrian Yoga teacher is harvesting the precious water which makes a most nutrient rich drink.

Jackfruits at Jiwa Damai

This is the time to bag our

Jackfruit.

When they are small we will hide them in big bags, and they will actually grow to the size of the bags. This is done in order to avoid insects from hosting inside. The next photo shows the grown jackfruit. When green we use it as a vegetable, when ripe, it is juicy insides and can be dried and also eaten as a fruit.

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jiwa damai fruits

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At Jiwa Damai we offer different products. You can see more

here.

TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence 2015 for Jiwa Damai

Jiwa Damai was awarded the Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence 2015 as a direct result of its consistently great reviews from its guests, being one of the 9% places in Indonesia receiving this award in a highly competitive market.

Jiwa Damai Organic Garden & Retreat is more than a hospitality business. It offers sanctuary in an idyllic, powerful environment, in the heart of Bali where the guests can reconnect to the life-giving qualities of the earth. Travelers can experience tranquility by taking part in yoga classes in the morning and evening meditation.

Jiwa Damai is also a place of personal development and of learning by doing. The garden is opened for the Permaculture Design Courses through the Heart which are organized in October. Through the Lagu Damai Bali Foundation, Jiwa Damai hosts interns who develop personalized projects in various fields under academically qualified supervision.

TripAdvisor used a complex algorithm in order to determine the Certificate of Excellence winners, taking into account the quality, quantity and recency of the reviews offered by the travelers, as well as their rating. The aim of the Certificate of Excellence is to reveal exceptional spots of happiness as recognized by travelers.