Badung Holds Ngaben Tikus Ceremony at Seseh Beach

Mangupura — Bupati Badung I Wayan Adi Arnawa attended a Ngaben Tikus and Pemahayu Jagat ceremony at Seseh Beach, Seseh Traditional Village, Mengwi District, on Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. The Badung Regency Culture Office organized the ritual.

The ceremony was presented as an expression of Balinese local wisdom and a niskala, or spiritual, effort to seek harmony with nature and reduce rat damage to farmland. It was the third time the Badung Regency Government had held Ngaben Tikus, with the main activities centered at Seseh Beach.

The ritual links agricultural protection with Balinese tradition

For foreign residents and visitors, the event illustrates how agricultural concerns in Bali can be addressed through both religious tradition and practical field measures. The ceremony involved pekaseh, the leaders of subak irrigation and farming organizations, from across Badung, including Subak Yeh and Subak Abian.

The ritual followed ngropyok, an activity in which rats were caught in rice fields and plantations. The captured rats were then gathered for a sakralisasi process through the Ngaben ceremony. Officials described the event as a form of yadnya and as an expression of respect for nature within Balinese belief and local wisdom.

Badung officials said spiritual efforts were accompanied by practical rat-control work. The Badung Agriculture Office, the Badung Majelis Madya Subak and pekaseh regularly conduct field measures intended to prevent infestations from spreading and affecting agricultural production. The stated aim is to support farm productivity, food availability and farmers’ welfare.

The ceremony was also attended by Badung Regional Representatives Council member Rai Wirata, Ida Cokorda Mengwi XIII, Badung Culture Office head I Gede Sukadana and Kuta Utara District head I Nyoman Tirtayasa, along with other Badung officials.

Sources

• Bali Post — Balinese news outlet
• Indonesia Expose — Indonesian news outlet