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 upto 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.
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