Rangda the witch and the Barong the lion are other-worldly characters in the Ramayana myth, a story which is integral to Balinese culture. The battle between Rangda and the Barong is a neverending saga that is intrinsic to life for people in Bali. It represents not simply the struggle between good and evil, but reaches deeper into the very struggle to live, not just as a single human being, but for as a community as well. While the Barong is often associated with being a ‘protector’, and the Rangda as representative of death, it is important to realize that both are intrinsically tied to the neverending cycle of life. It might even be said that their existence is complimentary rather than oppositional.

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