Bali - Cockfighting

The Indonesian government made all forms of gambling including cockfighting illegal in 1981. The results of this law have been about the same as anywhere else in the world where popular and relatively innocuous activities have been prohibited. The practice has merely moved away from prying eyes so that it is less obvious but still very real

Many Balinese men own one or more fighting cocks. They are kept in rattan cages and fed high quality food to develop muscle. The cages can often be seen on the side of the road during hte day to make the birds used to noise.

The fight is called talen, a word derived from the steel blade tied to the cock's leg. The sport is so complex that there are around 75 words used that are not used anywhere else in the Balinese vocabulary. There are also beliefs that certain colored cocks should not fight certain other colors on particular days depending on the phase of the moon.

It is a fight to the death -- and typically only lasts several minutes.

Cockfight also have a religious aspect. One important characteristic of the Balinese Hindu religion is the making of of offerings. Most offering are of "beautiful" things, but there are a class of spirits that require animal sacrifice -- at such a time a cockfight is legal, and, in fact, a requirement.

Sunday afternoons are the big time for cockfights and I actually drove by one on the way back to the hotel (I couldn't actually see anything, except hundreds of cars parked along side the road).