THE KING OF LODTUNDUH'S WEDDING

It's not every day that you can watch a royal wedding. A month ago the king, Cokorde Oka, picked his bride up in Karengasem to bring her to his home in Lodtunduh with all the ceremony and processions it entails. A month of preparations and finally the wedding yesterday. Running up to the day of the wedding the rain had been pouring down endlessly, flooding yards and roadways. I asked Dayu what would happen to the wedding processions if the rain continues on the day of the wedding. "No problem," she answered, "The priest will stop the rain." And that's exactly what happened.

Since I was down with a bad cold, I told Dayu to go and gave her my camera. Dayu's family is of the Brahmana caste from Lodtunduh and her uncle Agung, our back-up driver, is somehow connected to the royal family. His daughter, Agung Attik, and his son, Cok De, were to take part in the important tooth filing ceremony that preceded the royal wedding. When Dayu brought the camera back this morning she told me that she had given it to her uncle instead because he could be in closer proximity to the activities.

The tooth filing started at 6:00 AM and lasted till noon. At 3:00 PM the wedding ceremony began, ending at 8:30 PM. Then it was party time. Dayu left at 10:30 PM and the festivities were still going strong.

There were three dance performances going on simultaneously in three parts of the "palace." Imagine the holy-moly ruckus of three gamelan orchestras playing at the same time. After the formal wedding ceremony the king and queen were carried, seated on their thrones, to the market around the corner where they distributed rice and other food presents to the people. Because the wedding ceremony is a serious affair, you will not see the king smile throughout. If my wedding required that much ceremony and, let's not forget, money!, I don't think I would be smiling either. The Balinese have infinite patience indeed.