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Blog 5
Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Unique

Today we experience something very unique in Bali: Nyepi Day! This is the celebration of the New Year, also known as Saka New Year. Of course this takes place every year, but you just must happen to be here to experience it. Just like our New Year, this celebration consists of 2 parts. The first day, or rather the night before, there is a big party and everyone goes out into the streets. The next day everyone is at home recovering from their hangover. Okay, that last part isn't quite the same. I'll start at our beginning and that's our introduction to the Ogoh Ogoh's.

Ogoh Ogoh

The day before Nyepi Day is called Pengrupukan. The Ogoh Ogoh festival that takes place on this day is part of the series of ceremonies surrounding Nyepi Day. During this festival, huge homemade monsters are exhibited. Such a monster is called Ogoh Ogoh. There are several versions online about the history of these Ogoh Ogohs. Since many websites are written in Indonesian, I will not attempt to go into great detail here. But I think the bottom line is that the Ogoh Ogohs symbolize the evil nature of man. The rituals on this day are supposed to cleanse us of the negative human qualities. Seems super chill! 

Dion and I drove our scooter through the villages of Denpasar and Sanur during the day looking for these Ogoh Ogoh's and we came across plenty. The villagers spent weeks, some even months, making these statues. It looked like all the material were allowed to be used and the base looks like something made of paper mache. It was really impressive to see and some monsters were so beautifully made that I forgot what I was looking at... There were very scary and disgusting Ogoh Ogoh's among them. But of course that's the point. Scroll through the photos below and judge for yourself!

After doing some groceries, dinner and cooling off at home, we went back to the streets around 7 o'clock. We were advised to go to the main intersection near McDonalds and the rest of Sanur was also here. Many of the Ogoh Ogohs we photographed lined up here to compete for the best monster. Here in Sanur, during the Pengrupukan evening, each village presents the created monster to a jury by dancing with it and then walking around the city with it. Ogoh Ogoh means "something that is shaken" and I read somewhere that they eventually shake the monster until it falls apart and then they set it on fire. There was quite a lot of time between the presentations of the monsters, so we went home after a few. See the videos below of what the crossing looked like and how the Ogoh Ogohs were carried on frames of bamboo poles.

Day of Silence

 In Bali they celebrate Nyepi Day, so the Saka New Year, through the Day of Silence. This is the quietest day of the year when the whole island literally comes to a standstill. Shops and airports are closed, traffic is prohibited and no lights are turned on in the evening. This morning we found out that the TV only gives snow and the 4G on our phone has also been disconnected. All this starts at 6 AM and lasts for 24 hours. We asked around what the Balinese do and most of them just meditate. They do not speak to each other at home and some fast for 24 hours. The latter is not obligatory, by the way. Many see this as a sort of reset for Mother Nature. 

Some time ago we received the letter below from the hotel explaining what this day means and also what this means for us as a hotel guest. They ask us not to disturb the neighbors with any loud noise. Other than that, we can do anything, as long as we don't leave the grounds! If you know me then you know that "silence" isn't really my thing, so I'm just glad I'm allowed to talk.

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Preparations

So, we are not allowed to leave the hotel and even if we were allowed to or if we broke the rules, nothing in Bali is open. So, like everyone else in Bali, we had to make some preparations. We thought we could do some quick shopping at the mega supermarket, because "it has everything". I don't think I've ever seen such a crowd in a supermarket. It looked like they gave away the stuff for free! It was such chaos in the supermarket and in the parking lot that you would think a month of quarantine was just around the corner. So we didn't go inside and only got some tasty things from the bakery on the side of the supermarket: take away toasties, sausage rolls and something sweet. We also bought pizzas from the Italian to reheat  tonight. In the end, the hotel also provided a fresh breakfast, so we simply just cannot starve.

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What are we doing?

Not very much actually. Dion still has quite a bit of diving theory to learn, so he can use the silence. I have written this blog and am going to spend the rest of the day working on my photos and videos. In between maybe watch a movie on the laptop, make a snack here and there, bother Dion with one of my hyperactive attacks, take a nap... That way the day fills itself and Nyepi Day will be over before we know it.

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That's it for this cultural lesson. Next week's blog will be about Dion's diving training and how far he is with it now. See you then!

Love,

Diana

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