THE smell of incense wafted from Made Sariani's house in the customary village of Tuka in North Kuta. The 48-year-old woman was busy preparing banten (offerings), which she would later bring to the memukur ceremony—a series of funereal rites in the Balinese tradition—in a neighboring village.

Moments later, Sariani put down her offerings so she could welcome her niece, I Gusti Ayu Pramusita Dewi Hartati, 24, a Catholic resident from Tuka. "Kad