In Bali, Banyan Tree was the Mall

TheIndonesia.id - In Bali, the banyan tree has a sacred meaning for the community. This tree has a role as the center of the community activity or you may call it, a community mall.

Beritabali.com– a Suara Network—published a story about a foreigner named Horst Henry Geerken who documented this banyan tree when he visited Bali in 1964. This German worked for a German telecommunication company which involved in Bali Tuban Airport (nowadays known as Ngurah Rai Airport) construction project.

He arrived in Jakarta in 1963. In January 1964, Geerken traveled by car from Jakarta to Bali, to where Ngurah Rai Airport is located now. Geerken documented the travel in his book “A Magic Gecko”. After traveling for several days by car from Jakarta, Geerken and his driver reached Banyuwangi, the eastern tip of Java Island. They crossed the strait by ship from a small port in Banyuwangi to Gilimanuk harbor in Jembrana Bali.

“As soon as the ship departed, we were faced with danger in this strait. The waves of the Bali Strait were high. The driver and I were soaking wet when we arrived in Gilimanuk," Geerken wrote.

When he arrived in Bali, he saw Tuban Airport was just a simple wavy grass runway where only small planes could land. President Sukarno wanted this airport to meet the international standard of opening Bali for tourism. Geerken was in charge of providing tools related to airport telecommunications.

Having only walked a few kilometers, Geerken already saw that Bali was different from Java. In Bali, Java is called Jawi which means far or far away island. The view of terraced rice fields is much more beautiful in Bali. When passing through villages in Bali, Geerken recorded the lives of the villagers who were still relatively simple at that time. Life in the village at that time, usually centered in the shade of a large banyan tree.

According to Geerken, the trunk is bigger than the arms of 20 men. "Here (under the shade of a banyan tree), they traded, bargained, and gossiped. This is where they shaved their heads, made friends, and broke up hostilities. Women were carrying baskets full of garden produce walked to the market to earn a living," Geerken recalled.

Geerken also recorded the life of the Balinese people at that time. "Outside the house, there is a rough woven basket that contains the most precious and beloved treasure of Balinese men, the fighting cock. The owner of the cock, usually sits massaging and rocking his chicken to make it strong in the next fight. Everywhere on the street, outside the house and under the sacred banyan tree, there are offerings placed in woven baskets," he wrote.

Women in traditional clothes pray and splash the purified water with graceful hand gestures. The statue of the temple guard is artistically carved in front of the gate. While the banyan tree trunk is given a black and white checkered cloth.