The day before Nyepi, the Day Of Silence in Seminyak Bali

The Gods are circling over Bali right now and we are in the spiritual eye of the hurricane.

Yesterday was Galungan the most important day of the year and tommorrow is Nyepi, the day of silence.

9th “Galungan” holiday, the day commemorated as the victory of “Dharma” (Virtue) upon “Adharma” (Evil), the entire island is brightened with festivities and celebrations, while symbolizing welfare and prosperity throughout Bali

10th “Tawur Agung Kesanga” the great Sacrificial ceremony, held to welcome “Nyepi” holiday started from every family compound, village area, town centre up to the provincial area of Bali with location focussed at Puputan Square, at 12.00 pm Denpasar

11th “Nyepi” holiday, the Icaka New Year 1927, the day of absolute silence, no activity is done, no amusement is held, no fire is lit along the day & night. The day of fasting & self-introspecting, the entire island is just like being deserted during the day.

For people not familiar with the ceremonial schedule in Bali let me say it is extremely complex. Balinese priests consult 2 calenders, the saka and the wuku. The saka calendar operates on the Hindu lunar cycle that is somewhat similar to the western calendar with 12 months. The preists highlight phases of the moon as being auspicious times. The wuku calendar has no months but is a year of 210 days divided into weeks, 10 of which have from 1 to 10 days and run simultaneously! Each day has a name, thus in the 1 day week every day is called luang.

Complicated stuff and it all means that the calendar dates of Galungan and Nyepi change every year. Nyepi is supposed to be the Spring equinox and Galungan the time when ancestors come down to Earth for a 10 day family reunion (be careful what you say about granny, she is coming back sometime!).

Ika and I live close to Jl. Dhyana Pura the party street of Seminyak ( or Legian as some call it). Our house is very close to a bale banjar, the pavillion where the banjar meets and also the pura desa, or village temple of Seminyak and last night, the night of Galungan the gamelan orchestra pounding out music late into the night. I loved it. Being used the the dull thump, thump of the nightclubs and bars, a lively glong, glong, rattle, rattle made a pleasant change and really created an atmosphere of excitement.

This morning I sipped a cup of kopi Bali (black coffee) at the street-side place outside Bintang supermarket in Seminyak. Most of the time I would not think about doing this because of the intense levels of air pollution from the passing traffic, but today was different. I have talked to many Balinese people who have gone back to their villages all over the island for 4 days, their place of work closed. The usually busy Cafe Moka is shut as is many other tourist favourites.

Jl. Legian was definitely quieter but Seminyak locals will step up the pace as the day progresses. I remember from 2003 expats carrying on like WWIII was starting tommorrow and stocking up on every food item they could carry. I will be hitting Bintang or Bali Deli myself for some bbq materials later.

A friend of mine, Putra (where Sean, when Sean coming to Bali?) told me today that it is not usual for Galungan and Nyepi to be so close and he prefers them to be separate months. I guess it would be like having Christmas and Easter 2 days apart or having the VFL Grand Final the same weekend as the State Of Origin (make that the Superbowl and World Series for you Yanks).

In all the places that are open, ranging from Circle K to warungs, all the Balinese are in ceremonial costume as they have ceremonies to attend later in the day. All the check out staff at Bintang supermarket looked very nice and I offered a Selamat Hari Raya ( have a good Big Day) to them.

Another lovely thing about this time of year is the abundance of the hanging decorations called penjors that decorate every single alley and street in Bali. This one was down my gang in Seminyak.

For visitors to Bali this is the night the monsters, or ogah ogahs are paraded around and 3 of the places you can see them are Puputan Square in Denpasar, Bemo Corner in Kuta (bottom of Jl. Legian and turn right, 100 meters ) and junction of Jl. Dhyana Pura and Jl. Legian in Seminyak. Ika and I will go to the one in Kuta as its pretty big. Should see plenty of animated groups carrying large ogah ogahs on swaying platforms all competing to scare away evil spirits from Bali.