When you are in Bali, surely you often see some women and men going to the temple, bringing some offerings. Women will wear kebaya clothes and men wear suits and other equipment. The clothes they wear are traditional Balinese clothes. This is not just ordinary custom clothing. Balinese traditional clothing has its own uniqueness.

Balinese Traditional Clothing 

In Balinese custom, traditional clothes for women and men are distinguished based on accessories that complement these clothes. For custom clothing, men consist of head covering (udeng), clothes (collared jacket), kamen, saput, and shawl. Whereas women consist of bun, kebaya, kamen, and shawl. This traditional clothing apparently has its own uniqueness, you know!

The first uniqueness is, the clothes have no colors. Balinese traditional clothes are generally plain white. This is because the white color is considered to have a philosophy that is very attached to the symbol of purity. For stylish reasons, people began to change the color of clothes with other colors for daily prayers. But when there is a big religious ceremony, the white color still dominates the traditional clothes worn by the Balinese. 

The next uniqueness lies in the use of seeds or Mebija on the forehead. Placing seeds or mebija during traditional ceremonies on the foreheads of men and women is one of the traditional instruments in Balinese culture. Mostly, they are placed during prayers. 

In addition, they also have to wear some flowers while using their traditional clothes. Flowers have always been an accessory attached to traditional Balinese traditional clothing. Flowers are usually tucked into the ears of both women and men. The flowers used are not just any flowers, but yellow or white magnolia champaca (cempaka), or frangipani flowers. There is a selection process that is carried out before wearing the flower. 

All the accessories contained in Balinese traditional clothes apparently contain philosophical values. All Balinese traditional clothes symbolize religious philosophy. For example, white clothes symbolizing purity, kamen tied at the waist from left to right symbolizes darma. While the use of scarves on women means that Balinese women must remember the teachings of darma and be prepared to educate their sons and daughters.