Bali News Update

Bali Cultural Kit

Balinese Ceremony Dress Code

It really depends on what kind of ceremony you go. These days Balinese ceremonial dress varies depending on the type of ceremony. There are four main ones - the temple ceremonies (odalan), cremations (ngaben / pelebon), marriages (pawiwahan) and ooth filings (metatah / mepandes / mesangih). The costume is essentially the same, but differs in terms of color and shape, but it will depend on the person.

For a man it will be a a head-cloth (Udeng), a shirt with a collar or a safari jacket (kuaca), a sarong interior (kamben), a sarong outside (SAPUT), a sash(selempot) and a pair of sandals (sandal).

Women typically do hair-extension (sanggul), a lace top (kebaya), underwear or a corset (kutang), a sarong (kamben), a sash (selempot), and a pair of sandals. The extension hair is optional.

First, the temple ceremony - these days, white is the norm and your safe bet for most parts of clothing, especially for the head man of the cloth. Over the years, a foreign yellow sarong has become sort of standard for men. The sarong May be any color you want. The same goes for women. Better not wear black.

For cremation, black or other dark colors are the norm for most parts of the dress. However, this depends on who is cremated - cremations higher caste (pelebon) May require one to wear white.

At tooth filings and weddings you don’t have to worry too much about colour. If so inclined, you can express yourself with different types of material (songket) and accessories, such as handbags and flashy jewelry.

These days, ceremonial dress in Bali is very much affected by local and international trends but basically as an outsider it’s probably wiser to dress up rather than dress down.

Balinese for Tooth Filling		Balinese For Temple