Every 210 days (Buda Kliwon Dungulan in the Pawukon calendar)
Galungan
Location
Bali
Date & Time
Every 210 days (Buda Kliwon Dungulan in the Pawukon calendar)
Bali's most important Hindu festival, celebrating the victory of dharma over adharma. Every 210 days, ancestral spirits visit the earth and the island erupts in prayer, offerings, and towering bamboo poles draped in yellow cloth.
Galungan is the pinnacle of the Balinese Hindu ceremonial calendar, occurring every 210 days according to the Pawukon (Wuku) calendar. It commemorates the victory of dharma (righteousness) over adharma (evil) — a cosmic event marked by the return of ancestral spirits to their earthly homes for a ten-day celebration, culminating in Kuningan (the day they depart again).
For the week leading up to Galungan, families across Bali erect penjor — soaring bamboo poles arched over the road entrances to every home and temple, decorated with young coconut fronds, rice, fruit, and woven palm-leaf ornaments. On Galungan morning itself, the entire island dresses in ceremonial white and yellow, and an extraordinary procession of offering-bearing women moves to every neighbourhood temple.
The streets become festive and communal: gamelan music fills the air, children wear traditional dress, and warungs close for the day as families gather. Visitors who happen to be in Bali during Galungan witness Balinese culture at its most alive and least performed — a genuine expression of a living religion.