| | Indonesia : News - August - season for Balinese cremation ceremonies |
 | | To the Balinese, a cremation is an occasion for gaiety and not for mourning, since it represents one of their most sacred duties: the ceremonial burning of the corpses of the dead to liberate their souls so that they can enter the higher world and be free for reincarnation into better beings. |
 | | When the cremation is held at the end of August, a huge crowd will be seen swarming along the streets, and shouting, laughing hordes of men shoulder gaudy platforms and life-size animal statues, weaving along in a crazy path under the strain of their burdens. |
 | | Large cremations cost thousands of dollars, which is too expensive for one family to pay alone, so many families who have corpses hold cremation ceremonies in groups in order to economize. |
| www.indo.com /indonesia/news90.html (561 words) |