Nyepi: Bali's Day of Silence
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.
