Blog Siddhartha – 10.03.2019

Nyepi is a very special holiday in Bali. Nyepi is the Balinese New Year’s Day and the day of silence.

Actually, the festivities of Nyepi begin three days before with “Melasti” – a great ceremony of purification.

On the evening before Nyepi, the so-called Ogoh-Ogoh processions take place in the villages, where the self-made Ogoh-Ogohs (monster-like creatures) are “driven” through the main streets of the villages with loud music to be burned at the end. Through this ceremony, all evil spirits and demons are to be banished from the villages.

The next day, the actual Nyepi day, everyone has to stay in his house. Nobody is allowed to work. There must be no light or fire and no one is allowed to move on the streets. Also the airport is closed, and there is no TV or internet awailable. Inside the hotel we were allowed to move outside the bungalows, but still there was a pleasant silence. It is said that the evil spirits return on Nyepi. But since the island is so quiet, they consider it abandoned and move on. So the new year can begin peacefully 😊