The decision to flood their rice paddies and prepare to plant a new crop of rice is made by the farmers in subak meetings. Each farmer asks the gods and goddesses for blessings in their water temple, symbolized by holy water that is sprinkled at shrines located at the upstream corner of their field. From then on, the growth of rice is celebrated with a series of rituals in the field shrines and water temples.
The names of these rituals, translated, mark the stages of the growth of rice plants: "Water Opening", "Field Preparation", "Transplanting", "Growth", "First Appearance", "Singing to the Baby Rice Plants", "Flowering" and "Harvest".
Each stage of the ceremony includes specific offerings and mantras, ranging from simple flower offerings in subak shrines to grand tributes brought to water temples in ritual processions. These offerings and rituals remind the members of the subak of their reliance on one another and the deities, including Dewi Sri, Goddess of Rice and Fertility, Pertiwi, Goddess of the Earth, and Dewi Danu, Goddess of the Lake.