By Kul Bhushan, IANS
Bali : Today is the day of silence in Bali. Instead of ear-splitting firecrackers, songs and dances that are the norm in the Far East, Bali submerges into deep silence. This is how Hindu-dominant Bali celebrates its New Year’s Day on March 7 – the entire island in Muslim-majority Indonesia becomes silent.
All offices, schools, shops and institutions are closed. Even the airport is closed down. The roads are silent and deserted. No one leaves home. Nobody will answer the phone. Tourists are advised to stay in their hotels. No lights are switched on after sunset. The Bali Hindus – who comprise 96 percent of the Indonesian island’s 3.5 million population – will not cook, work, travel or indulge in sex in a collective attempt to purify the entire island.
The festival, called Nyepi, marks the day of the new moon but darkest of all nights. On this day, the entire island goes into mass meditation to restore the balance between the forces of good and evil.
In the days leading up to Nyepi, visitors to Bali are intrigued with enormous monsters called Ogoh Ogoh, along the roadside, made of papier-mâché, all sorts of exotic accessories and lots of paint. Up to three metres tall, in fantastic forms and with mostly plump bodies, equipped with talons and horrifying fangs, they appear in all colours and shapes, fierce and evil looking.
On the day before Nyepi, they are lined up on the roadsides, pointing towards the direction they will be carried to in the evening, complete with bamboo foundations. They are part of a celebration that makes sure Bali will be purified of all evil spirits lurking around.
Nyepi marks the first day of the Balinese New Year and also the end of the rainy season, The Balinese also consider Galungan (another holy day) as New Year’s Day, and they are most likely the only community who celebrate New Year twice within a year. Not only that, they celebrate Galungan every 210 days!
The Balinese solar-lunar year is based on the ‘Saka’ calendar, which has its origins in India, dating back to almost 5,000 years ago. Nyepi is celebrated every solar-lunar year, marking also the spring equinox and falling on the day after the ‘dark moon’ that ends the ninth lunar month.
A very special day before Nyepi is the observance of Melasti, when the Balinese walk to holy springs or to the ocean for the symbolic washing of small statues called ‘pratimas’, which are receptacles for gods and deified ancestors. Finding oneself on any of the roads that lead to the beach, a beautiful and humbling sight touches one’s heart: hundreds and hundreds of women, men, and children attired in temple dress, walking gracefully along, focused on their inner task, appearing like gods and goddesses.
One of the many legends regarding Nyepi has it that Yama (Lord of Hell for Balinese Hindus, Lord of Death for Hindus) cleans up hell of all devils, who in due course descend on Bali, which makes it necessary to implement a huge purification ceremony. It seems that Yama must have been cleaning up hell on a daily basis this entire last year, because so much evil has descended on the entire planet! However, this event strives to harmoinse the macrocosm and the microcosm.
Bali has four types of temples: one for the home to be worshipped at least twice a day; one for the place of work be it a shop, an office or even a field; one for the village and a few selected ones for the entire community. All temples are topped with an umbrella, yellow or white. But the temples are empty as they have deities! The offerings of flowers and fruit are placed in beautifully woven coconut leaf square plates. Even a taxi has such an offering!
On the eve of Nyepi, woven coconut leaf mats are placed on village crossroads and other major intersections, with vast assortments of offerings to the evil spirits.
The parade of the Ogoh Ogoh starts before sunset, is well organized and disciplined. Everyone involved in this event bangs on drums, pots and pans, to make as much noise as possible. Firecrackers, although outlawed, are being fired off and flaming torches add to the heat. Thus a ruckus is raised to scare the evil spirits to such an extent that they push off, totally unnerved. At least this is the commonly shared version.
Waking up in the morning on the day of Nyepi is an incredible experience. Everything is so still. Even nature seems to be holding its breath. No airplanes, no cars, no motorbikes. No people on the roads. Just silence. Imagine, a population of more than 3.5 million being totally silent.
The reward comes the day after when the sun rises and smiles down on a purified, spiritually squeaky-clean island.
(Kul Bhushan can be contacted at [email protected])