In Hindu Bali, it is common to hold a “Marriage to the Land” ceremony before starting any building; this occurs whether or not you are purchasing or renting the land.  This is to ensure that the relationship between the “owner” and the land spirits will be a fruitful and stable one.

YKIP employee Achmad Fatoni and ALF Consultant Rucina Ballinger spent many months combing the area of Tohpati and Ketewel (strategically located outside of Denpasar and central for most clients and staff) for just the right parcel of land to house the soon-to-be-built Annika Linden Centre.   Some potential land had no decent access road, others weren’t the right size, others were within a Green Belt; it was as if the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears was being played out only with land and not beds!  Finally a nice parcel of 33 are (3300 square meters) was found hidden behind a storefront in the village of Tohpati.

Negotiations began with the owner I Nyoman Jigra and his family.  Jigra is nearly 80; his son is a farmer and his grandsons work in sales and a non-profit.  As they live near the land and Jigra is a priest, ALF will work closely with them to ensure that the spiritual needs of the land and the building are properly met.  The family has been invaluable in easing the ALF into the community.

After all the paperwork was done, it was time to find an auspicious day to hold the Balinese rituals.  The ALF team was coming in from around the world for the anniversary of the 2002 Bali bombings and we were hoping that a “good day” would be found during that week.  We were lucky that the Full Moon (indeed auspicious) fell on October 11^th, one day before the anniversary.

Three rituals were held on this day: 

1. First, as the land had originally been ricefields, the goddess of rice, Dewi Sri, had to be “moved” to a temporary shrine in the NorthEastern corner of the land.  This was done through offerings made of cut out coconut leaves, fruit, flowers, incense and holy water, all officiated by a local priest.
2. Secondly, the spirits of chaos that live on every bit of land, had to be “neutralized”, again with offerings (not in the Hollywood fashion!) so that they will not come back to cause mischief.
3. Thirdly, the planting of the first stones (a brick and a black stone, wrapped in ceremonial white cloth with offerings) had to be planted.  And here we faced a small dilemma.  The architects had not arrived yet (due to Bali’s latest phenomena:  horrendous traffic jams) so we had to figure out where the most northeastern part of the building would sit so we could plant there.  Agustin found a small stick in the grass and used it as a measuring tool on the blueprints to ascertain how many meters in we would need to plant.   A tape measure was borrowed from the neighbours and then Matt and Agustin plotted it out.

The digging commenced.  The stones were planted.  Everyone, from ALF staff to the family to drivers helped cover the stones.  The architects arrived and determined that, yes. the location was perfect!  The Gods were smiling on us.

The building of the foundation commenced on DATE.  We shall be updating its’ progress through this magazine.   Mark your calendars for October 2012 for the Grand Opening!