Enjoy the rice harvest festival during a Seminyak stay - AsiaRooms.com

March 04, 2010 (PRLEAP.COM) Travel News
AsiaRooms.com reports people booking accommodation in Seminyak later this year can look forward to the rice harvest festival, one of Bali's most important and eagerly-anticipated celebrations.

Marking the end of the harvest season, the festival takes place throughout the island in May each year.

The event is dedicated to Dewi Sri, the Rice God, who is thanked for bringing a bountiful harvest to Bali.

People visiting the island during the festival will be given the opportunity to sample a number of traditional Balinese dishes, as many delicacies are cooked in honour of the deity.

Locals also pay tribute to Dewi Sri at this time of year by making small straw dolls, which are then placed in the fields and villages.

New visitors to Bali will notice that religion plays an important part in the lives of many native people.

The majority of the island's population practise a version of Hinduism that combines existing local beliefs with religious influences from mainland south-east Asia.

Temples such as Pura Besakih attract many visitors, while the island is also home to series of sea temples that are said to form a chain around Bali.