Om Swastiastu!

Om swastiastu is a formal Balinese greeting which can be roughly translated in Hebrew as "Shalom" or in English as, "Have peace and safety". Technically this is a Sanskrit phrase and along with Hinduism, it originated in India and was brought to Bali later on. Anyhow, the corresponding symbol is also quite popular here. It is associated with well-being and luck and it's pretty common to see this symbol on houses, gates, and jewelry.




At first it is a little strange to see this symbol displayed so prominently, since we usually associate it with something else entirely. The first few times we saw it around it threw us off guard a bit. But once you get to know the people here and a little bit about the culture, it becomes just an an ordinary sighting in Bali. The people here are among the friendliest and most welcoming that I have ever met. They are very accepting of the numerous tourists who visit their island, no matter where you are from or what your background. They might look at you funny if you are doing something that doesn't make sense in their culture, but that is about the extent of their cultural insensitivity. Considering how friendly and helpful everyone has been, I really stopped noticing the symbol on houses except when I was looking for it. Around here we were able to stop thinking of the symbol as "something bad" every time we caught a glimpse of it on someone's house. However, I think if I were to see this symbol in most other parts of the world I would be far more uneasy.

This one was on a sign pointing to our hotel in Nusa Lembongan.

And this one is on Ganesha's hand in our home-stay in Ubud.