Bali Jatra Festival

Bali Jatra (or Bali Yatra) literally means "journey to Bali". This festival is held in Orissa, particularly in the city of Cuttack, to mark the day when ancient Sadhabas (Oriya mariners) would set sail to distant lands of Bali, as well as Java, Sumatra, Borneo (all in Indonesia), and Sri Lanka for trade and cultural expansion.

The festival is held during Kartik Purnima in October and November, for a period of five days right before the full moon. This is the specific time that was considered auspicious by the Sadhabas to begin their voyage in vessels called Boitas.

In Cuttack, Bali Jatra is celebrated annually as a large, open, fair near the Barabati fort area. There are several attractions for children, and food stalls selling Oriya delicacies, and other vendors selling toys, curiosities, and other gifts. Children float toy boats made of colored paper, dried banana tree barks, and cork in the Mahanadi river, ponds, and water tanks, to commemorate the voyage of their ancestors to Indonesia. These toy boats, that are usually launched after sunset with small oil lamps, lit and placed inside them, provide a very attractive sight during the festival.

This festival is also celebrated with great fanfare in Paradeep, Puri, and Bhubaneswar. Bali Jatra bears testimony to the rich maritime legacy of ancient Orissa. It is also known as Boita Bandana Utsav, or the "festival of boats".

Bali dance

Bali dance

In Hindu the dance is an accompaniment to the perpetual dissolving and reforming of the world. The creative and reproductive balance is often personified as Shivas wife, Durga, sometimes called Uma, Parvati, or Kali. This has significance in Balinese Hinduism, since the common figure of Rangda is similar in many ways to Durga. In Bali there are various categories of dance (i.e. barong, legong, kecak) including epic performances such as the omnipresent Mahabharata and Ramayana.

Bali dancers learn the craft as children from their mothers as young as age 4 (see a nine years old dancer on the right). In Balinese dance the movement is closely associated with the rhythms produced by the gamelan, a musical ensemble specific to Java, Bali and Malaya.

Multiple levels of articulations in the face, eyes, hands, arms, hips, and feet ate coordinated to reflect layers of percussive sounds. The number of codified hand positions and gestures, the mudras, is higher in India than in Java or Bali. It has been speculated that they have been forgotten as the dance was transmitted from India to Java. Hand positions and gestures are nonetheless as important in Javanese and Balinese dance as in India. Whether in India, Indonesia or Cambodia, hands have a typically ornamental role and emphasize the dances delicate intricacy.