We spent about a month in Bali, a bit earlier in the year than last year. This meant the weather was more prone to tropical showers and thunderstorms and the temperature was never below 30 degrees. With that heat, what could we do but sit at our favourite beach side cafe Rosetta's listening to the gentle sound of the waves lapping the shore, feeling the cool of the breeze and sipping cold diet cokes accompanied by shrimp crackers.
We would be in Bali for their new year, which is called Nyepi or the day of silence. Nyepi is a Balinese Hindu celebration and takes place over several days during the new moon around March, usually. We saw the preparations in the form of the construction of two massive papier mache effigies called Ogoh ogoh. One was of a hermit crab about 20 feet high and another near to our hotel in a local 'banjar' (village hall) was an angry dog - see photos. On Wednesday 18 March we witnessed a ritual called the Melasti pilgrimage. Each community parades from their village towards the coast, they are dressed in traditional costumes, all wear sarongs and the women wear white lace tops and colourful sashes. The parade is accompanied by traditional Balinese music and the procession carries community heirlooms. At the beach, worshippers make their flower/money offerings in tiny reed baskets on the shoreline. We saw some 10 year old boys promptly stealing the money from the baskets once they were left. Next the crowd is seated on the sand and a purification ceremony takes place, there are prayers, chanting, music and holy men splash the congregation with holy water. Paul got some amazing photos here. On the Friday, we had been tipped off that the Ogoh Ogoh parade would be at the MacDonalds crossroads in Sanur, about 300 metres from our hotel. There were varying reports about the start time, staff at our hotel said between 4 and 5, a guy in the street said 6 and another guy said 7.30pm. We had our dinner at the beach and headed back to get a speck at the crossroads. At around 6pm a few people had gathered at the crossroads, mainly tourists. We sat on the central reservation of the dual carriageway. Well we waited an hour and more and more people were piling in, but there was no sign of the parade. The traffic, was continuing as normal with both sides of the carriageway being used. Finally, at around 7:30 we heard the drums and clangs of the parade. Ogoh Ogoh were held in the air above the crowds and were waved around to the clanging. We were just too far away and the light wasn't good enough for photos and after lots of jostling for position by the newly arriving locals we were getting a bit pissed off. Despite having waited for an hour and a half, we decided to head back to the hotel, which was in the direction from which the parade was coming anyway. We soon realised that the best vantage point was from right outside our hotel Sanur Indah. From here we could clearly see groups of young men carrying their effigies on bamboo stands. Apparently the tradition of youth groups making Ogoh-Ogoh for the parade dates back only to the 80s. The drums and clanging are supposed to scare away the evil spirits. The Ogoh-ogoh are the embodiment of malevolent forces. A huge mount of effort had been put into the construction of these creatures. Paul had to use his flash to capture them in the dark. We saw around 30 effigies, which are supposed to be burnt after the parade. Although we were told that some are kept until next year. We saw the angry dog being disassembled two days later. Saturday 21 March was the day of silence, this is meant to be a day of reflection and fasting for the Balinese. All businesses are shut down and there is a curfew from 6am until 6am the next day. The streets and beaches are deserted and only the security tasked with upholding the curfew are allowed out. An exception is made for medical emergencies. On this day, there should be no fire or light, no electricity either. There is no work, no movement or travelling and no entertainment or "satisfying of human appetites".
For us, we were confined to our rooms, the TV satelite signal was blocked. The poor staff did have to work to cook our three meals though. I made the mistake of turning the lights on in the dining room when we showed up for dinner as it was pitch black. The staff ran to get candles instead. We were glad the curfew was over the next day and got back to our beachside routine. It's good, however, to experience Nyepi once in your lifetime.