In Reply to: Betting posted by Mrs Killer on Wednesday, 27. May 2009 at 07:49 Bali Time:
we seem to have got off mrs killers question about horse betting onto cockfighting. An interesting topic though. I first watched a cockfight in 1980, somewhere in Kintamani, huge crowd and only men, except myself & fellow aussie girl. Lots of betting and i remember being suprised at how quickly the fights were over. I last watched cockfights in January of this year. One was at Kuta on the way to Tuban which goes on every afternoon at around 4:30. This one is illegal and cops are bribed for it to go ahead.I do know first hand of men being jailed as a penalty for cockfighting and beaten during their time in jail. At this venue, set up for betting, there are lots of motorbikes, some satay food stalls, men only and it is held at the back of a huge, dusty empty paddock. Quite obvious that "something is going on". My bet of 20,000 was too low to be taken seriously and caused immense amusement amongst the locals. The other cockfight was in Munti Gunung and it was not illegal as it was at the end day of a ceremony welcoming Made (a young boy) back home to the village after his 3 month stay in Australia with me. It was held at the family home (they are VERY poor so "home" is not as we know a home)it was attended by the local Hindu priest, relatives and friends, even a food stall was set up in the "back yard" which gave it a very festive atmosphere and something for all the women and children to do while the men took the fights very seriously. One morning at 4am when i got up because it was too hot to sleep Made's dad was tending to his roosters by giving them rice and water, petting them & truelly!! giving them a chicken vitamin tablet for strength. One day he was happily bathing them all in a bucket of water. The men take great pride in them. Got some fantastic photos and felt incredibly lucky to be so closely involved in the various aspects of these ceremonies in such a primitive, traditional sense with no tourist element present. Even getting used to the pigs being sacrificed! The pigs are then cooked and EVERY single part of the animal was eaten by people or dogs, or put in baskets for offerings which we took the the local temple (4km walk from the family compound). Same with the roosters after the cock fight - they were eaten.Please don't read any political correctness or animal rights issues into what i am saying: just that these occurences are what i have seen and so much of their traditional culture and way of life.I don't think you can take the gambling out of the men/ boys - cocks, chess, cards, dominoes, backgammon, doesn't seem to matter, but the Balinese are both gracious winners and losers and always pay up their dues happily and have a laugh.