The Symbol of Prosperity

Hello, everyone. Sorry, I haven't posted for weeks, since I have (financial) challenges caused by our friend the corona virus.

Today, I would like to share with you about our activity as family to make penjor, the symbol of prosperity. For me, this symbol of prosperity this particular time, is a bit strange because I feel that the prosperity has left me because of the corona virus.

The Meaning of The Penjor: The Serpent

Every now and then, especially in holiday and celebration, we, as the Balinese, make a penjor. This time we make penjor because there is a renovation of a local temple in our village.

The shape of a penjor resembles a serpent called Naga Basuki. It's a mythological creature that symbolizes prosperity. Everywhere you go in Bali, you will see a lot of these statues of serpents especially in temples, and palaces.

The penjor is made of an entire bamboo pole which has an arch at the end and decorated with young coconut leaves, and croton leaves. The arch at the end is because it supposed to be the tail of the serpent.

Making the Penjor: bamboo poles, and leaves

First we made curve from coconut leaves then attached them onto the bamboo pole. We also made a decoration in a shape of fern plants from the coconut leaves. We also prepared croton leaves which later will be attached to the part close to the bamboo.

Here is the steps of making the fern plants for the penjor decoration:

These ferns plants will be attached on the bamboo pole along with croton leaves and the circles we made from coconut leaves.

the circles from coconute leaves.

When finished building the penjor, We put the it in front of our house, just by the street. People believe it will bring luck and prosperity to their homes.

Usually, this penjor would only last 10 days or so. By the that time, the religious celebration is usually has finished. Then we remove the penjor. While all the decoration, the leaves, become deteriorate, the bamboo pole can be used again for the next celebration.

here is our penjor, not exactly very neat, but we made it ourselves.

This is our symbol of prosperity. Hopefully prosperity will come again in my life and life of all of us. Thanks for reading.