Galungan

Welcoming the ancestors

The festival centres on family bonds that reach beyond physical life. Balinese Hindus believe that the spirits of relatives who have passed away and undergone cremation return to visit their living descendants. Household members take on the sacred duty of welcoming these ancestors with warm hospitality. Families prepare dedicated offerings and gather for communal and private prayers. The period serves as an important bridge between the living world and the realm of the spirits, ensuring that departed family members receive respect and remembrance before they journey back at the close of the festivities on Kuningan.

Roadside bamboo poles

The most visible marker of Galungan in public spaces is the penjor. These are tall, arched bamboo poles raised along the edges of roads and thoroughfares. Each pole is carefully fitted with suspended offerings hanging from the upper tip. Lining streets across the community, the penjor create a festive landscape that signals the arrival of the holy days. Their presence alerts everyone that the period of sacred ceremonies has begun and guides the welcoming of ancestral guests.

Timing and calendar cycles

Galungan follows the traditional Balinese pawukon calendar, a system structured around cycles of two hundred and ten days. The festival opens specifically on a Wednesday, known as Buda, in the eleventh week of this count, on the date called Buda Keliwon Dunggulan. Because this calendar year is shorter than the solar year, the festivities occur roughly every seven months, often resulting in two distinct celebrations within a single standard calendar year. The celebration concludes on Kuningan, the designated day when visiting spirits make their return.

How Galungan is kept

Observances begin on Wednesday of the eleventh week of the pawukon calendar. Residents raise arched bamboo poles called penjor along roadsides, dangling offerings from their ends. Families present gifts and recite prayers to show hospitality to returning ancestral spirits. The festivities continue through several specially named days with specific tasks, culminating on Kuningan when the spirits depart.

When and where

Galungan begins on Wednesday, Buda, during the eleventh week of the 210-day Balinese pawukon calendar. Because the cycle lasts 210 days, it often occurs twice in a single solar year.

The holiday is observed across Bali by Balinese Hindu communities. Celebrations fill local neighbourhoods and roadsides with decorated bamboo poles, marking the homes where families welcome their returning ancestral spirits.

What Galungan means

Galungan represents the triumph of dharma, which stands for cosmic righteousness and order, over adharma, representing chaos and wrong. At its heart, the festival also embodies deep family respect and continuity. Living relatives provide dedicated hospitality, prayers, and offerings to ensure that visiting ancestral spirits are honoured and peaceful during their stay on Earth.

Days Galungan is marked

Galungan dates: 2026, 2027, 2028

Questions people ask about Galungan

See also

Qingming FestivalA spring custom of sweeping family graves and honouring ancestors across East Asia.Ghost FestivalA full-moon night in the seventh lunar month for feeding ghosts and guiding souls homeMid-Sha'banAn Islamic night of prayer, remembrance, and seeking divine forgiveness.MawlidAn annual festival marking the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, marked by poetry, processions and feasts.

Good reading and sources

• Galungan on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-04.