Events and Culture

For a year’s calendar of events, click:
http://www.baliguide.com/bali_events.html
http://www.hoteltravel.com/indonesia/guides/festivals.htm

Balinese perform various religious ceremonies daily. Of those on the most important list, Galungan, Kuningan, Saraswati and Nyepi stand out. Galungan celebrates victory of good over evil. Kuningan is a thanksgiving celebration for blessings upon mankind with offerings of yellow rice that symbolizes the light from a clean heart. Saraswati celebrates all knowledge. And NYEPI, of the many Balinese events, needs special mention.

NYEPI , the Balinese New Year, their most important and spectacular celebration is indicative of Balinese sacred tradition, with rituals involving introspection, meditation, purification and balancing nature. Although originally following the lunar calendar, NYEPI has been fixed to March 7th of the Gregorian calendar for government and business reasons.

Preparations begin months before. Aside from the festival adornments and other such preparations, each village has a team that spends their spare or full time making a building-high horrific monster, Ogoh-ogoh, who represents evil spirits all over the environment, who must be exorcised from our lives. Ceremonies are launched 3 days prior, called Melasti or Mekiyis or Melis, with rituals to clear the mind, an effort to come closer to God. Long, colourful ceremonies take the temple deities for water cleansing to the ocean or lakes or rivers.

On the day before Nyepi, Tawur Kesanga, a large exorcism ceremony happens at every village’s main crossroad where the demons meet. As the sun says good-bye, the carnival parades begin all over Bali amid gamelan revelry. So that the harmony achieved crosses barriers of human-God-environment, rituals must be performed in every level of society, in every home. At night, the Hindus start the loud ruckus and torch the Ogoh-ogoh to ashes. The value of months of detailed, painstaking labor in creating Ogoh doesn’t count compared to getting the evil spirits out of their lives. By midnight, total silence sets in.

Thus Nyepi begins, a complete contrast of the day before—total silence in every street, no flights, no stores, no vehicular nor pedestrian traffic (except for emergencies), no sounds off any home, TV included. The black clad security men police the streets and everywhere to assure Nyepi’s strict observance. By nightfall, no lights, not even candles! No sex! Only dogs, insects, and few other non-humans are allowed to express themselves. The idea is to start the year on a clean, fresh slate, with humans taking control of their senses instead of vice versa, and to keep away the evils that were exorcised the night before. A great reminder for one and all.
It doesn’t end there. On the day after Nyepi, Ngembak Geni, Hindus visit each other to ask forgiveness and to read or sing ancient scripture.

Hindus and non-hindus alike are allowed to join any part of the celebration, as long as they are properly clad in sarong and temple scarf. For our own introspection, this is a great event to be part of. More Nyepis in this planet would make Mother Earth happy, a rest from excessive use of energy and resources.

Related Links

http://www.baliguide.com/bali_events.html
http://www.hoteltravel.com/indonesia/guides/festivals.htm