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Nyepi:
Bali's Day of Silence
Every religion or culture all over the world has their own
way to define and celebrate their new year. For example, the
Chinese have the Imlek year and to celebrate it, have, as
they called it in their own language, "Gong Xi Fat Choy".
The Moslem societies have their Muharam year, and any of the
people over the world using the Gregorian calendar, celebrate
the New Year on January 1st.
The same thing also occurs in Bali, however the Balinese
use many different calendar systems. They have adopted the
Gregorian calendar for business and government purposes. But
for the endless procession of holy days, temple anniversaries,
celebrations, sacred dances, building houses, wedding ceremonies,
death and cremation processes and other activities that define
Balinese life, they have two calendar systems. The first is
the Pawukon (from the word Wuku which means week) and Sasih
(which is means month). Wuku consists of 30 items starting
from Sinta, the first Wuku and end up with the Watugunung
the last one. The Pawukon, a 210-day ritual calendar brought
over from Java in the 14th century, is a complex cycle of
numerological conjunctions that provides the basic schedule
for ritual activities on Bali. Sasih, a parallel system of
Indian origin, is a twelve month lunar calendar that starts
with the vernal equinox and is equally important in determining
when to pay respect to the Gods.
Westerners open the New Year in revelry, however, in contrast,
the Balinese open their New Year in silence. This is called
Nyepi Day, the Balinese day of Silence, which falls on the
day following the dark moon of the spring equinox, and opens
a new year of the Saka Hindu era which began in 78 A.D.
Nyepi is a day to make and keep the balance of nature. It
is based on the story of when King Kaniska I of India was
chosen in 78 A.D. The King was famous for his wisdom and tolerance
for the Hinduism and Buddhism societies. In that age, Aji
Saka did Dharma Yatra (the missionary tour to promote and
spread Hinduism) to Indonesia and introduce the Saka year.
The lead up to Nyepi day is as follows:
- Melasti or Mekiyis or Melis (three days before Nyepi)
Melasti is meant to clean the pratima or arca or pralingga
(statue), with symbols that help to concentrate the mind
in order to become closer to God. The ceremony is aimed
to clean all nature and its content, and also to take the
Amerta (the source for eternal life) from the ocean or other
water resources (ie lake, river, etc). Three days before
Nyepi, all the effigies of the Gods from all the village
temples are taken to the river in long and colourful ceremonies.
There, they have are bathed by the Neptune of the Balinese
Lord, the God Baruna, before being taken back home to their
shrines.
- Tawur Kesanga (the day before Nyepi)
Exactly one day before Nyepi, all villages in Bali hold
a large exorcism ceremony at the main village cross road,
the meeting place of demons. They usually make Ogoh-ogoh
(the fantastic monsters or evil spirits or the Butha Kala
made of bamboo) for carnival purposes. The Ogoh-ogoh monsters
symbolize the evil spirits surrounding our environment which
have to be got rid of from our lives . The carnivals themselves
are held all over Bali following sunset. Bleganjur, a Balinese
gamelan music accompanies the procession. Some are giants
taken from classical Balinese lore. All have fangs, bulging
eyes and scary hair and are illuminated by torches.The procession
is usually organised by the Seka Teruna, the youth organisation
of Banjar. When Ogoh-ogoh is being played by the Seka Teruna,
everyone enjoys the carnival. In order to make a harmonic
relation between human being and God, human and human, and
human and their environments, Tawur Kesanga is performed
in every level of society, from the people's house. In the
evening, the Hindus celebrating Ngerupuk, start making noises
and light burning torches and set fire to the Ogoh-ogoh
in order to get the Bhuta Kala, evil spirits, out of our
lives.
- Nyepi
On Nyepi day itself, every street is quiet - there are nobody
doing their normal daily activities. There is usually Pecalangs
(traditional Balinese security man) who controls and checks
for street security. Pecalang wear a black uniform and a
Udeng or Destar (a Balinese traditional "hat"
that is usually used in ceremony). The Pecalangs main task
is not only to control the security of the street but also
to stop any activities that disturb Nyepi. No traffic is
allowed, not only cars but also people, who have to stay
in their own houses. Light is kept to a minimum or not at
all, the radio or TV is turned down and, of course, no one
works. Even love making, this ultimate activity of all leisure
times, is not supposed to take place, nor even attempted.
The whole day is simply filled with the barking of a few
dogs, the shrill of insect and is a simple long quiet day
in the calendar of this otherwise hectic island. On Nyepi
the world expected to be clean and everything starts anew,
with Man showing his symbolic control over himself and the
"force" of the World, hence the mandatory religious
control.
- Ngembak Geni (the day after Nyepi)
Ngembak is the day when Catur Berata Penyepian is over and
Hindus societies usually visit to forgive each other and
doing the Dharma Canthi. Dharma Canthi are activities of
reading Sloka, Kekidung, Kekawin, etc.(ancient scripts containing
songs and lyrics).
From the religious and philosophy point of view, Nyepi is
meant to be a day of self introspection to decide on values,
eg humanity, love, patience, kindness, etc., that should kept
forever. Balinese Hindus have many kind of celebrations (some
sacred days) but Nyepi is, perhaps the most important of the
island's religious days and the prohibitions are taken seriously,
particularly in villages outside of Bali's southern tourist
belt. Hotels are exempt from Nyepi's rigorous practices but
streets outside will be closed to both pedestrians and vehicles
(except for airport shuttles or emergency vehicles) and village
wardens (Pecalang) will be posted to keep people off the beach.
So wherever you happen to be staying on April 4 in Bali, this
will be a good day to spend indoors. Indeed Nyepi day has
made Bali a unique island.
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