What the Balinese do not understand or what is strange to them, e.g. a spring or big tree, is holy. As a holy place it has to have a temple or at least a shrine. A Banyan tree, because it is so large and awes the people, is holy and one sees always a shrine under it, where people can make offerings to the spirit of the tree.Near a spring there is always a shrine and more often than not such a spring becomes the place where the deities go for a cleansing bath.A whole temple is built around the holy spring of Tirtha Empul at Tampaksiring, a spring of fresh water bubbling up all the time that awes the people so much.

A Balinese compound has always the house temple inside and a guardian shrine outside. The Bale Banjar (community hall) has a temple, a bathing place has a temple or at least a shrine.

There are temples especially built to house the Barong, a mythical animal considered very holy by the people.

All lakes in Bali have temples. In such temples Dwi Danu, the lakes Goddess, is worshipped and since a lake is a water reservoir the members of the subak go there to ask for water in case of a drought.For Baruna, the sea God, the Balinese build the Pura Segara, the Sea Temple, a place for purification ceremonies, because the sea although full of demonic forces also has purifying forces. If there is no temple the people just sit on the sand and pray to God Baruna, and ask him for purification.Two days before the Nyepi, the Balinese New Year, there are purification ceremonies all over South Bali. The purpose of all this is that the New year is really begun with a new clean slate. Tools, men and deities all are purified.

Every county has its own national (county) temple and Bali has three:

1. Pura Besakih on the slope of Mount Agung,

2. Pura Ulun Danu Batur at Batur Karanganyar in the county of Bangli and

3. Pura Gelgel at gelgel in the county of Semarapura.

All these three temples are called Pura Gumi, the People’s temples. People from all over Bali go to these temples to worship. Besakih temple is the biggest where every clan has its temple and every group of nobility has its own “pedarman” temple. In it there is the Tri Purusa, there shrines on a common pedestal, where everyone goes to pray before or after he goes to his own temple in the Besakih complex.The Tri Purusa is for Brahma, the Creator, Wisnu the Maintainer and Siwa the Destroyer and Mahadewa another name of Siwa. Siwa and Mahadewa sit in one Padmasana. One can distinguish the seats of the Trinity to the colors of each God; red is for Brahma, black for Wisnu, white if for Siwa and yellow is for Mahadewa.

So a piece of red cloth is hung around the shrine for Brahma, a black cloth is wrapped arount that of Wisnu and around the shrine of Siwa and Mahadewa are wrapped two pieces of cloth, a white and yellow one. Red means fire, black is prosperity, white is purity and yellow is for holiness.Beside ordinary shrines, structures with one roof of alang-alang, tall grass, there are merus, high structures with odd numbered roofs of “ijuk”, the fiber of the “jaka” palm.A Meru is a seat of the a mountain deity or an ancestor. The merus of the temple of Besakih are for ancestor and those of Taman Ayun are for mountain deities. Our deities have ranks. For the highest ranking is a meru of 11 roofs, the highest number and the lowest is three.

In the temple of Taman Ayun, Mengwi one see a structure of two roofs of ijuk. This is now a meru, but a plain shrine. According to their rank a deity sits in a meru of three, five, seven, nine or eleven roofs.

There are two cycles in Balinese can choose from dedicates of inaugurate temples of building, i.e. the time cycle of twelve lunar months and another one of 30 weeks of seven days. Of the lunar month year full moon or dark moon is chosen; full moon is chosen to inaugurate Pura Desa or and Pura Puseh; new moon is used to dedicated Pura Dalem.The days of the Wuku (week) year is also used to dedicate temples, but they are mostly used for public as well as family religious ceremonies. For everything the Balinese do there must be a good day. For that they consult a priest who is versed in deciding what day is good for what.