Denpasar parks provide offerings to the gods
Written by Writer on Friday, October 24th, 2008
Denpasar parks provide offerings to the gods
Fri, 10/24/2008 1:36 PM | Bali
Awalk through the parks of Denpasar may seem just like a walk in the park of any other city. But in Denpasar’s parks, there they are various plants commonly used for the Balinese ritual of banten.
The banten, an assortment of flowers, fruits and cookies sitting on a plate made from coconut tree fronds, is a well-known Balinese offering. Banten are placed in front of houses, on shrines and on roads as offerings to the gods.
Denpasar’s parks, apparently, utilize all necessary plants required to make a banten, from coconut trees to gardenia flowers.
Denpasar mayor Ida Bagus Rai Dharmajaya Mantra said the concept, dubbed the gumi (earth) banten, was developed over numerous years as part of the city’s effort to keep the city more in tune with Balinese culture.
“This is part of our effort to make Denpasar a cultural city,”he told The Jakarta Post.
Coconut trees, the leaves of which are used as banten plates, can be spotted in most city parks, while coconut hybrid trees line Jl. Sudirman in Central Denpasar.
At least one of the plants required to make a banten, such as Plumeria trees, sandat (Canangium Odoratum), soka (Ixora Javanica) and the gardenia plant, can be spotted on the city’s roadside.
In areas where large trees have occupied most empty spots, such as Puputan Badung field, the city plants flowers instead.
“Through its parks, the city aims to introduce visitors of Bali to the islanders’ close relationship with culture and religion,”Mantra said.
Chief of park maintenance Ida Bagus Eka Jayana said the city administration was currently trying to regenerate a number of rare plants, such as the majegau (Dysoxylum densiflorum).
“Lumintang park has become the planting ground for 200 seeds of 35 plants that are famous in Bali,”he said.
“The plants in Denpasar have mostly been left to grow wild, unlike plants in other parks that have been colored or trimmed and organized to form certain letters or shapes,”he said.
Eka said the city administration instead used the four cardinal directions to showcase the city’s aesthetic value.
South Denpasar has a lot of red flowers and leaves because the Balinese believe the direction of South equates to bravery. Darker colors, such as purple, dominate North Denpasar. East Denpasar parks tend to be white and West Denpasar parks are usually yellow.
The gardenia has been declared a iconic flower of Denpasar, Mantra said. It continues to thrive around Denpasar’s parks and remains a decoration staple at the mayor’s office, he added.
The city itself maintains three types of parks - the city park, the median park and the telajakan (the area in front of a house or a building that are commonly filled with decorative plants).
The city park is a wide area designated for sports and cultural events, carpeted by grass and surrounded by trees. Examples of city parks are Puputan Badung field and Lumintang.
A median park includes area where trees are planted between two strips of road. Mantra said he hoped the city’s parks would become icons of the already popular island of Bali. - JP/Wasti Atmodjo
