Vacation isn’t only about going to the beach or mountain. You can also spend your holiday in a traditional village, and you’ll get many new experiences! In Bali itself, there are some tourism village that can be visited. For example, in Karangasem Regency, there are at least 3 tourism villages that could be your next holiday destination. Are you interested? Then let’s read the following article!

1. Tenganan Pegringsingan Tourism Village 

This village might be familiar in your ears. Tenganan Pegringsingan is one of the Bali Aga villages that are quite popular. The inhabitants of this village highly uphold the rules of customs that have been passed down from generation to generation by ancestors. Ranging from rituals, ceremonies, community norms, to home architecture. So when you go around the village, you will find that the houses are still made of red bricks, river stones, and soil and roofed with rumba leaves. Yup, that architectural house designs have been passed down from time immemorial. The local people try their best to protect all of their ancestral heritage. One of them is by continuing to weave the typical fabric of Tenganan Village, which is Gringsing Fabric. Spending two to three hours walking around the village of Tenganan can give you a lot of knowledge about the life of the original Balinese. While in Tenganan, you seem to be brought back to the ancient Balinese civilization.

2. Jasri Tourism Village

Besides having beautiful natural scenery, Jasri Village is famous for its thick cultural elements in everyday life, especially in carrying out ceremonies. This village has an ancient tradition called Ter-Teran or the war of fire which is carried out every year in the day before the Nyepi Celebration (Pengrupukan Day). Besides Ter-Teran, there is also a traditional percussion called Tambur Jasri. This traditional musical instrument is specifically played during the Ngaben ceremony in Jasri Village. In addition, there is also a sacred dance called Rejang Jasri. This dance is only performed the day after Kuningan Day and is held for three days. All of these cultural traditions can only be seen in Jasri Village, you know. Residents believe that by maintaining this tradition, the village will always be guarded and protected by ancestors. To witness these rituals, you must come to Jasri Village before or after the religious holiday. If you visit on a normal day, you can see the process of making dodol, socation, and pottery directly carried out by local residents. This village also got the title as the best Tourism Village in 2013!

3. East Duda Tourism Village

The natural potentials that become tourist attractions owned by this tourism village are Bukit Putung and Jagasatru Waterfall. Besides having a beautiful landscape, this village also has a sacred ritual that must be lived the day before Nyepi. Villagers are required to carry out a ritual called Ngusaba Dodol or Ngusaba Dalem which aims to give thanks to Ida Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa. The ritual begins with bringing Melasti on sacred objects and statues in the inner temple. Before this ritual took place, various ancient traditions had also been held. One of them is Siat Api or fire war tradition, like the one in Jasri village. The difference is, in this village, the fire is made of the torch from dried coconut leaves, conducted right entering sandikala (late evening). These coconut leaves torches will be struck on the opponent’s torches. While in Jasri Village, the torches will be thrown to the opponent. Residents believe that the heritage of this ancestor is kept in order to kill the evil spirits that lurked the village before Nyepi.

Well, those are some tourist villages that you can visit while in Karangasem Regency. So, besides going to Virgin Beach or Soekasada Ujung Park, you can also go to the tourism village.