Wet-rice cultivation is the key to this agricultural bounty. 'Me greatest concentration of irrigated rice fields is found in southern-central Bali, where water is readily available from spring-fed streams. Here, and in other well-watered areas where wet-rice culture predominates, rice is planted in rotation with so-called palawija cash crops such as soybeans, peanuts, onions, chili peppers and other vegetables. In the drier regions corn, taro, tapioca and beets are cultivated.
Rice is, and has always been, the staff of life for the Balinese. As in other Southeast Asian languages, rice is synonymous here with food and eating. Personified as the "divine nutrition" in the form of the goddess Bhatari Sri, rice is seen by the Balinese to be part of an all-compassing life force of which humans partake.
Rice is also an important social force. 'Me phases of rice cultivation determine the seasonal rhythm of work as well as the division of labor between men and women within the community. Balinese respect for their native rice varieties is expressed in countless myths and in colorful rituals in which the life cycle of the female rice divinity are portrayed from the planting of the seed to the harvesting of the grain. Rice thus represents "culture" to the Balinese in the dual sense of cultura and cultus - cultivation and worship.
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