How do the Balinese view the cockfight?

Based upon his time in Bali during the 1950s, Geertz writes about the cultural phenomenon of cockfighting. To the locals these fights represent an accumulation of status. Rival families, clans, and villages compete. They raise and care for their birds as an expression of self-worth and pride. Just as the word "cock" in English serves as a double entendre, it also carries a similar significance in Balinese. The roosters symbolize the manhood of their captors and fight as emissaries. This is the true significance of the fights.