The lead up to 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. So wherever
you happen to be staying on April 4 in Bali, this will be a
good day to spend indoors. Indeed Nyepi day has made Bali a
unique island.
