If you’ve never seen a Hindu cremation ceremony you have missed an extraordinary spectacle.

In Bali, there is a mass cremation for all the people within the area who have died within the last five years.

Now this doesn’t mean that they leave a pile of dead bodies around for the duration.  They bury their dead, and then wait for an auspicious date to dig them up again, wrap their bones in cloth that has been blessed by the priest, and then with great ceremony cremate them.

In certain villages, they do this symbolically, while others take the physical remains.  For several weeks, the family members and the members of their village gather together to make effigies of bulls or garudas.  Depending on your class will determine what effigy you will use.  For the lower class, the bulls.  For the higher ones, the garuda, and sometimes a stupa.

On the day of the cremation, it is is like a large carnival with many effigies carried to a large open site.  Offerings are made to the gods, and the personal belongings of the individual are placed within the interior of the effigy before a mass burning takes place.  From a distance, it looked to me like a giant merry-go-round was waiting to start, even as they were lined up in rows.  Hundreds of people come for the occasion to watch the proceedings or to take part in it.

Death is an interesting subject, and for many people there is a dread of it.  Personally, I like the Hindu and Buddhist concept of reincarnation. Another opportunity to come back around again, and if you’ve done a decent job of it this lifetime, perhaps you will find yourself in an elevated position next time.

Life is an adventure, and death is a mystery, but both are a journey.  How you choose to make that journey is the choices and decisions you make on a daily basis.  How you choose to die is another matter.

When they take my bones, I hope they will cremate me in style and say ‘I gave it my best shot’.   It’s all any of us can do.