Selamat Jalan: Have a save journey!

On the side of the road, you will frequently notice very tall trees that we call Banyans. Their trunks are sometimes nearly 10 meters wide and are quite astonishing to look at, with their roots hanging like long hair. As soon as they start to reach the ground, the banyan becomes sacred, like all the large trees. Then we build a small shrines nearby, with a covered base, like all the statues at the entrance of the temples, of black and white checkered fabric that we call poleng. The contrast of the two opposite colors remind us of the opposition between good and evil.

At the entry of most of the important villages, a tall, sculpted construction was built on each side of the road. The are the candi bentars. Passing through them, will give you impression that you going through a door that has been split into two equal parts. For centuries, we’ve been using them in temples in order to distinguish the entrance to the high part, which is the most sacred. And we would say that should a demon try to go through these candi bentars, the two pieces would meet and they would be squashed!

These one framing the roads are rather recent, only about 40 years old. They are not only very decorative but also serve to delimit the areas between the village and the district, for instance, When you arrive there, you will see written: Selama Datang, welcome, and when you leave: Selamat Jalan, have a save journey.