Could you be silent and not leave your home for 24 hours? And could you also stop using the internet for 24 hours? Could you not use any lights for one full evening of darkness? Welcome to the Nyepi holiday in Bali, Indonesia.
BALI QUIET FOR ONE FULL DAY
Actually it’s not that bad and these actions are symbolic in the Balinese culture. Nyepi is a celebration of renewal and marks the New Year in the Balinese calendar. However this local holiday is not celebrated in the rest of Indonesia since the Balinese are Hindu and the rest of the country is predominantly Muslim.
Nyepi is a time to celebrate with your community and your family. And silence isn’t meant to literally not speak for 24 hours, but more of a time to reflect and rest. Nyepi begins at 6am and ends 24 hours later. You are not allowed to leave your residence. All of the streets are empty. Bali is a very busy island, especially in Denpasar and the beach areas. However on this one day a year, everything is quiet. And there are no exceptions. There are Nyepi police who will fine you if you are outside of your property.
NO INTERNET, NO LIGHTS, STAYING AT HOME FOR A DAY
The government turns off the internet around noon on the day of Nyepi and it does not come back on until 6am the next day. And in the evening, no lights are allowed in your residence. Imagine your entire community dark for one evening. No light anywhere. No street lights. No stoplights. No building lights. No light.
WE WEREN’T SILENT ALL DAY
I celebrated Nyepi with friends north of Denpasar at a villa in Sidemen, which is a small village very near the recently active volcano Mt. Agung. No we weren’t “silent” all day. But we didn’t leave the villa complex. During the day we ate traditional Balinese food, which was an amazing fish curry, rice and local vegetables with some extremely spicy homemade sauce. We swam at the pool and just relaxed with each other.
As nighttime arrive, we turned out all the lights. We had our dinner under billions of stars. With no light pollution, you could see every star and even see the galaxy! It was a sight I won’t forget. Since the holiday is timed around the moon cycles, it was a new moon so no light was shining from the sky except onto the stars!
PRESENTATION OF MYTHOLOGICAL BEINGS
The evening before Nyepi is a huge celebration. Each village hosts an Ogoh-ogoh parade. The villagers hand make large mythological beings, mostly demons. The main purpose of the making of Ogoh-ogoh is the purification of the natural environment of any spiritual pollutants emitted from the activities of living beings (especially humans).
As I rode up to Sidemen on the scooter with my Balinese friend through the gorgeous rice field countryside, we passed many villages preparing their large structures that they would carry in the parade. Some of the figures took 15 men to carry the base structure!
WALKING IN THE LOCAL OGOH-OGOH PARADE
It was an incredible and unique sight to see these beautiful structures that must have taken weeks to build and then painted into stunning figures with detailed faces and clothing. As we passed through one small village, the road was so narrow that we could not pass since their parade had commenced. The villagers were walking the large figures in the middle of the road ahead. I hopped off the scooter and joined the parade.
There was a local band playing music with drums, bells and chimes. And the men were methodically holding the structure on a square platform that looked like a grid made out of long pieces of wood. They had a choreographed walk where they would move to a certain side and then back and then forward as if it were a dance if some sort for the gods (and turns out it is a special dance). It was quite an honor to be able to be this close and actually walk in the parade. The locals loved it and smiled for my GoPro as I filmed the entire experience!
NYEPI WAS A SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY TO PAUSE IN LIFE
It was special to be in Bali during this once a year tradition. And to witness the local culture, food and rituals. And to be a part of a celebration where everyone was following the same tradition and staying at their homes with no light. The Balinese people are extremely spiritual and this holiday allowed me to get back in touch with my spiritual side again. A great reminder to pause in life and be thankful for the the richness that we all have!
Have you experienced Nyepi? Or something similar to Nyepi? It would be great to know where you were and what you saw. Share your experience below in the comments.
