Trusting the universe to guide me...: Nyepi and the Balinese New Year

The offerings for the New Year celebration were more elaborate then usual

As our time in Ubud comes to an end, I feel incredibly fortunate to close out our stay by celebrating the Balinese New Year known as Nyepi Day. During my initial research of the happenings in Bali during my visit I stumbled across the date for this year's Nyepi and realized we would be here for the unique celebration. The culture here is incredibly spiritual and community oriented, and the way they celebrate this holiday is unlike any other place in the world.

Typical New Year offering seen outside each Balinese home

Since our arrival here we have noticed many different sculptures being built around the neighborhoods and in the temples. Gigantic bamboo and paper mache structures being worked on tirelessly each day. It was fun to see these structures come to life and we wondered what they were for. One family we passed daily would invite us to come take a closer look periodically at their figures, you could see they were quite proud of their work and happy to share it with us. These statues evolved and became more and more detailed, with painted faces and additions such as fur, hair, claws and other features. It is clear this country has some incredible artistic talent.

Statues being constructed around our neighborhood

Our neighbors working on their creatures, we passed them daily on the way to the Yoga Barn and watched them come to life

A closer look

Finally Nyepi was upon us, and it all started to make sense. The way they celebrate the night before the new year is for the communities to come together with their respective mythical creature sculptures, called "ogoh-ogoh" and have them act out duels between them. Apparently these sculptures are all meant to represent certain spirits, good and bad, and the idea is to present the evil spirits and eradicate them. Elaborate plays are acted out in the streets meant to symbolize "chasing away" malevolent spirits from the community. It is incredible to watch the performances and the two we saw featured traditional dancers, a narrator and a band with drums and other traditional instruments. The ogoh-ogoh as all built on bamboo poles that form a grid like layout and each sculpture is carried by 15-20 people inside this grid. They all have to be coordinated and move together, sometimes running back and forth during the performance with these gigantic structures. It was crazy! I found this synopsis of the ritual online:

Bhuta Yajna Ritual is performed in order to vanquish the negative elements and create a balance with God, Mankind, and Nature. The ritual is also meant to appease Batara Kala by Pecaruan offering. Devout Hindu Balinese villages usually make ogoh-ogoh, demonic statues made of richly painted bamboo and paper mache symbolizing negative elements or malevolent spirits. After the ogoh-ogoh have been paraded around the village, the Ngrupuk ritual takes place, which involves burning the ogoh-ogoh.

Nyepi Day 2017 in Bali Bali Day of Silence - 28th March 2017 39 Nyepi Day in Bali is a New Year celebration unlike anywhere else on the planet. Bali’s celebrates the Saka New Year as the Bali Day of Silence, an ultimately quietest day of the year, when all of the island's inhabitants abide by a set of local rules, which brings all routine activities to a complete halt. Roads all over Bali are void of any traffic and nobody steps outside of their home premises. Most Balinese and visitors regard it as a much-anticipated occasion. Some expats and those coming from neighbouring islands prefer escaping Bali for the day rather, due to restrictions that surround the observance. Some visitors check coinciding dates ahead before their Bali trip, avoiding it altogether. Anyhow, Nyepi is worth experiencing at least once in a lifetime, especially since the preceding and following days offer rare highlights to behold! Most Booked Hotels Rating The Kana, Kuta 4.4/ 5 Citadines Kuta Beach Bali 4.1/ 5 Horison Seminyak Bali 4.2/ 5 Alaya Resort Kuta 4.8/ 5 Kuta Paradiso Hotel 4.3/ 5 Grand Hyatt Bali 4.3/ 5 AYANA Resort and Spa Bali 4.7/ 5 Marriott's Autograph Collection, The Stones Hotel, Bali 4.7/ 5 Courtyard by Marriott Bali Nusa Dua Resort 4.4/ 5 RIMBA Jimbaran Bali By AYANA 4.7/ 5 Most Booked Tours Highlights Of Bali Full-Day Tour Bathe & Breakfast with the Elephants Whitewater Rafting & Elephant Safari Ride Whitewater Rafting Downhill Cultural Cycling Tour with Lunch Private Bali As You Please Tour Devdan Show: Treasure of the Archipelago at Bali Nusa Dua Theatre Fast-Track Waterbom Bali Admission Best of Bali Highlights Tour with Lunch Elephant Safari Park & Optional Elephant Ride A Different Kind of New Year Celebration The unique day of silence marks the turn of the Saka calendar of western Indian origin, one among the many calendars assimilated by Indonesia’s diverse cultures, and among two jointly used in Bali. The Saka is 78 years behind the Gregorian calendar, and follows a lunar sequence. Nyepi follows after a new moon. Village meeting halls known as ‘banjar’ and streets feature papier-mâché effigies called ogoh-ogoh, built throughout the weeks leading up to the Saka New Year. Youth groups design and build their mythical figures with intricately shaped and tied bamboo framework before many layers of artwork. These artistic creations are offshoots of the celebration since its dawning in the early 80s, which stayed on to become an inseparable element in the island-wide celebration that is Nyepi Eve.

Read more at: http://www.bali-indonesia.com/information/nyepi-day.htm?cid=ch:OTH:001

The day following Balinese New Years Eve is a nationwide day of silence. I found this synopsis online to give you an idea of what the day entails:
Nyepi is a Balinese "Day of Silence" that is commemorated every Isakawarsa (Saka new year) according to the Balinese calendar. It is a Hindu celebration mainly celebrated in Bali, Indonesia. Nyepi, a public holiday in Indonesia, is a day of silence, fasting and meditation for the Balinese. The day following Nyepi is also celebrated as New Year's Day.On this day, the youth of Bali practice the ceremony of Omed-omedan or 'The Kissing Ritual' to celebrate the new year.
Observed from 6 a.m. until 6 a.m. the next morning, Nyepi is a day reserved for self-reflection, and as such, anything that might interfere with that purpose is restricted. The main restrictions are no lighting fires (and lights must be kept low); no working; no entertainment or pleasure; no traveling; and, for some, no talking or eating at all. The effect of these prohibitions is that Bali's usually bustling streets and roads are empty, there is little or no noise from TVs and radios, and few signs of activity are seen even inside homes. The only people to be seen outdoors are the Pecalang, traditional security men who patrol the streets to ensure the prohibitions are being followed.
Although Nyepi is primarily a Hindu holiday, non-Hindu residents and tourists are not exempt from the restrictions. Although they are free to do as they wish inside their hotels, no one is allowed onto the beaches or streets, and the only airport in Bali remains closed for the entire day. The only exceptions granted are for emergency vehicles responding to life-threatening conditions and women about to give birth.
On the day after Nyepi, known as Ngembak Geni, social activity picks up again quickly, as families and friends gather to ask forgiveness from one another, and to perform certain religious rituals together.

It was quite incredible to be able to be here to experience special day, nowhere else in the world has a day where everything shuts down, even the airport. We were fortunate to have our lovely villa in the jungle to spend this day of reflection, and I decided to spend the daylight hours of the holiday practicing my own silence by not speaking and also refraining from using technology. I meditated, journaled, painted, rested and reflected. I listened to the sounds of nature un-obscured by any noise from cars, planes and people. We cooked a family meal and enjoyed dinner by candle light, and later checked out the stars and saw some Balinese fire bugs. It was pretty special and incredibly relaxing, and what a perfect way to close out our time in Ubud!