Seminyak/02Smnyk

A cockfight is a blood sport between two roosters (cocks), or more accurately gamecocks, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. Cockfighting is an ancient Balinese tradition. The Indonesian government frowns on it, and the heavy gambling that goes with it (men can lose farms on a single fight), but it remains a part of daily life. Cockfights are staged before religious ceremonies, as an offering to the gods. The government forbids cockfights for non-religious purposes, but the government is far away, on Java. Of the 13,000 islands in this archipelago, only Bali is Hindu, and in Bali, cockfighting is performed in every village temple. The people and the government have reached an unspoken compromise: cockfighting can continue, so long as everyone pretends it doesn’t exist.

02Smnyk_tour21.jpg - A cockfight is a blood sport between two roosters (cocks), or more accurately gamecocks, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. Cockfighting is an ancient Balinese tradition. The Indonesian government frowns on it, and the heavy gambling that goes with it (men can lose farms on a single fight), but it remains a part of daily life. Cockfights are staged before religious ceremonies, as an offering to the gods. The government forbids cockfights for non-religious purposes, but the government is far away, on Java. Of the 13,000 islands in this archipelago, only Bali is Hindu, and in Bali, cockfighting is performed in every village temple. The people and the government have reached an unspoken compromise: cockfighting can continue, so long as everyone pretends it doesn’t exist.

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