Not all travel experiences are sunshine and rainbows, but I think a willingness to learn and understand other people is an important part of life’s journey. Bali has so many fun activities to do and beautiful places to see (more on that here and here), but we wanted to take some time to learn more about life on the island as well. We accepted an invite to visit someone’s village one evening – and, as we arrived, we learned we’d unknowingly landed an invitation to a cockfight.
Cockfighting in Bali (called tajen) has roots in religious tradition and in an effort to better understand the culture and history of the island, we stayed. I’ll admit that standing on the outskirts of a ring of jovial men shouting and placing bets on which rooster will survive the next fight made me a little sick to my stomach.
I was torn because on one hand, I didn’t want to show support for something I find cruel, but ultimately I’m sure my presence had no effect on the past, present, or future of cockfighting in Bali. I wanted to understand how this practice fits in to local culture and religion – and I wanted to share what I learned because this is a prominent part of the local culture, even though you really don’t hear much about it as a tourist. It’s also something that gets very little attention on social media. That makes me wonder a bit how often people go to Bali and don’t actually hear anything about the cockfights that happen on a daily basis.
Cockfighting takes place all over the world as a betting sport. In most places, it has been banned because it is a cruel practice. Roosters will naturally fight each other, but not to death, and certainly not with 3-inch blades tied to their spurs. In fact, cockfighting has been illegal in Indonesia for decades, but because it has ties to religious tradition, it is tolerated by local authorities.
Ties to religion
Balinese people believe that blood must be offered to Ratu Saung, a Balinese Hindu God. The blood offering must be given daily to the god to keep evil spirits at bay. Therefore, the first cockfight takes place in the temple in front of the shrine for Ratu Saung. This religious tradition is called tabuh rah, and shouldn’t be confused with the betting that developed later.
In a given evening there are multiple cockfights. The first fulfills the tabuh rah ritual, and subsequent fights take place in a tent set up just outside the temple in an alleyway. One of the men told me that they now even bet upon the first fight inside the temple.
A betting sport
People in attendance tend to bet 100,000-200,000 IDR in a given night, which is about $7.5-$15 USD. Bets are arranged both between individual spectators and as a main bet between the two owners, which spectators will back.
In some cases, the fights are arranged during the day and are organized with entrance fees to raise money for things like repairing community buildings and temples. These events can be massive and well attended.
At one point I leaned over to ask the person next to me who is allowed to enter a rooster into the fights. He said, “anyone.” So I asked if I could enter the fights. He laughed and said, “yes of course, but did you bring a cock?” I hear snickering from a few guys nearby. Well, no I didn’t bring one… obviously.
Cockfighting in Bali is a serious betting event and the men take a lot of pride in raising fighting cocks. They use drugs to make the roosters more aggressive. The roosters are imported in certain cases and they are often fed special diets. One of the men joked with us that he takes better care of his roosters than he does himself. He doesn’t see it as a cruel sport. To him, the tradition is important and he believes he is giving the animal a better life than it otherwise would have.
Preparation
Before the fight ensued, a group of men gathered in the arena, each holding a rooster. It’s almost like messed up speed-dating; the owners walk around the ring, pausing in front of each other holding up their roosters. They provoke each rooster by pulling at their feathers to see if they can get any pair to react strongly enough to each other to warrant a fight.
Once the judge is satisfied that there will be a good match between two animals, the unchosen roosters and owners clear the ring. Only the two roosters, the owners, and the judge remain inside.
Each owner will ensure they have a blade (called taji) tied to one of the rooster’s legs with a red string. There is a man with a case of blades and a ball of red string. He unzips the case and flips through it to select two blades. Next he expertly affixes a blade to each rooster. One of the men in attendance told me that the blades are special and that not just any blade can be used.
All in all, the preparation for the fight lasts 5 to 10 minutes, which is much longer than the actual fight.
The fight
The roosters are let loose in the ring. The owners and judge take a few steps back. One of the roosters veers off in the wrong direction toward a group of spectators; the owner has to grab it by the tail feathers and redirect it towards its opponent.
The fight ends when one of the roosters is either dead or can no longer stand. In less than a minute the fight was over. Both of the fights I saw ended quickly. Both times the smaller rooster was the victor.
The owner of the winning rooster gets to keep the losing rooster to eat. The winner will reap the benefit of having bet on the winning rooster – the same reward as any attendee making the same bet.
At the end of the fight, the crowd disburses rather quickly and one of the men teases me as I walk away by holding a plucked chicken up in front of my face. It was about 9pm as we were walking back down the alleyway away towards the main road. I turned to look back at the tent, but the lights were already out as if the whole thing never happened.
While I certainly don’t agree with the practice, I did gain more of an understanding about why cockfighting in Bali holds an important place in religious tradition. It’s not my place to condone or condemn the practice, but I will say that I don’t plan to attend another fight.