When we were driving through the crowded streets of Bali I saw a big crowd of people and men standing on several stories of bamboo and what looked like wood. They had huge wooden elephants and giraffes and other figures. We asked what was going on. It looked like people working on these figures for a parade. It wasn't too far off. It was for a cremation service. The Hindus believe bodies should be cremated and when there is a death, the family pays a fee and the body is carried through the streets and is cremated. It costs the family a great deal of money to pay for the service. The priest leads the parade and gifts are given to the family. When the ceremony is finished, the ashes must be scattered in a body of water.
This whole ritual is very difficult for families that cannot afford to pay. So their loved ones are buried in the ground until the family can afford the cremation fee and then the bones are cremated. To help the poor, every so often a common ceremony is carried out with large wooden characters and the parade is attended by the whole village. I am attaching an icon that I snaped right after that, so am not sure if it is for the cremation or it is carried by the procession and not burned. Either way, the wooden carvings I saw were life size and heaped on a tall pile of wood.
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