Yesterday was the beginning of our Nyepi Break. Based on the Balinese calendar, this is the beginning of the year 1934 and the celebration of Nyepi. Nyepi is celebrated over several days. The first part of Nyepi is The Melasti Ritual which involves going to the beach to acquire sacred water from the sea and purify oneself. The second part, The Bhuta Yajna Ritual is performed in order to vanquish the negative elements and create balance with God, Mankind, and Nature. Huge demonic statues called Ogoh-ogoh are made symbolizing negative elements or malevolent spirits. After the ogoh-ogoh have been paraded around the village, the ogoh-ogoh are burned. The purpose is to scare the evil spirits and create a balance between good and evil. Then there is the official Nyepi Day which is an island wide day of silence. On Nyepi you must obey the following rules, - Amati Geni: No fire/light, including no electricity
- Amati Karya: No working
- Amati Lelunganan: No travelling
- Amati Lelanguan: Fasting and no revelry/self-entertainment
Owen has been taking an art class where they made their own ogoh-ogoh. This afternoon, we went to a neighboring village to Ubud to parade around with their ogoh-ogoh. After that we headed into town to check out the other ogoh-ogohs. Many of the roads were closed to cars and motorbikes so we ended up walking several miles back to our house taking in the celebrations of the ogoh-ogohs.
No comments:
Post a Comment