London (Antaranews Bali) - The Bali community in the Netherlands and in other European countries held BaliSafe Culltural Festival 2018, at the Indonesian embassy in the Hague, on Sunday, to mark the completion of the Seclusion Day and Saraswati rituals observed on the previous day.
The Balinese Hindus and Dharma Wacana also held prayers led by Wayan Sulestra.
Sulestra explained that the meaning of the Seclusion Day is self-control through the implementation of Catur Brata.
Some 250 guests including Dutch people, attended the festival featuring various Balinese dances, such as Pendet dance, Panyembrahma, Baris dance, Panji Semirang, Truna Jaya, Sekar Jagad, Meli Sambuk in Dawan, Legong Keraton, Mas Rain dance, and Joged Bumbung.
Indonesian Ambassador to the Netherlands I.G. A. Wesaka Puja also enlivened the event with his performance of the Old Mask dance and Sidakarya Mask, with gamelan music as the background.
Several gamelan groups also performed. They included Seka Gong Semara Cita of the Hague, Seka Gong of Leiden, Seka Gong Saling Asah of Belgium, and Seka Gong Swara Shanti of Amstelveen.
The BaliSafe Cultural Festival presented 50 gamelan players, and some dancers from dance studios in the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Germany.
In his speech, I.G. A. Wesaka Puja highlighted the uniqueness of the Balinese gamelan music harmonization.
Based on the data of Bali's Provincial Tourism Office, a total of 102, 235 tourists from the Netherlands visited Bali in 2017.
Following improvement of the Dutch economy, Bali hopes to receive more Dutch tourists in 2018.
The BaliSafe Cultural Festival 2018 is a tourism promotional strategy to increase the interest of the Europeans in Balinese culture. (WDY)
