Canang sari
A Daily Offering of Balance and Gratitude
Posted by Christina Zipperlen on August 26, 2025
Every morning in Bali, the island awakens with ritual. If you’ve ever been to Bali and stepped out for an early morning coffee or walk you might have stumbled over colourful little offerings decorating every street.
As the sun stretches over the rice paddies and rooftops, these small handwoven offerings appear at doorsteps, shrines, and temple steps. Delicate bundles of flowers, leaves, and intention.
These are Canang Sari, one of Bali’s most iconic spiritual symbols, and a quiet, daily prayer to maintain harmony in the cosmos.
What they're made of
Made from banana leaf trays and filled with blossoms in vibrant hues, Canangs are more than just beautiful, they are a language of devotion.
Each flower’s placement and color carries meaning. White petals facing east represent Iswara (purity), red to the south for Brahma (passion), yellow to the west for Mahadeva (prosperity), and blue or green to the north for Vishnu (balance and sustenance). A sliver of betel nut, a coin or note, or even a cookie is placed at the center as a symbol of self-offering.
A daily lesson in balance and gratitude
At their core, Canang Sari are daily lessons in balance and gratitude. In a world that often pulls us out of rhythm, these humble offerings root us back in the now, inviting us to slow down, give thanks, and honor the invisible threads that hold life together.
The act of creating and placing a canang is a moving meditation, a reminder that divinity is woven into the mundane, and that beauty is most powerful when it is impermanent, offered without expectation.
For the Balinese, these offerings are not about asking for something, they are about giving. Giving thanks for the day, for life, for breath, for both the light and the shadow. They are placed with reverence to restore balance between people, spirits, and nature.
A living expression of Tri Hita Karana
This practice is a living expression of Tri Hita Karana, the Balinese philosophy that teaches us to live in harmony with three essential realms:
– harmony with the divine
– harmony among people
– harmony with nature
By making a Canang Sari, one honors all three: expressing gratitude to the gods (Parahyangan), strengthening family and social bonds through shared ritual (Pawongan), and giving back to nature through biodegradable, earth-sourced materials (Palemahan). It is through this quiet ritual that the Balinese maintain sacred balance, not just for themselves, but for their communities and the island as a whole.
Our roots in Bali run deep. We are endlessly inspired by this philosophy of living, where ritual meets daily life, and beauty is an offering. The spirit of Canang Sari lives in everything we create: intentional design, gratitude as a practice, and devotion to the unseen.
What are your ways of bringing the divine into the mundane?
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