Make lots of noise to call out the evil spirits, scare them into the sky with giant monsters, then hide for 24h in complete darkness so that the spirits will move on to another island. This is the basic idea behind Nyepi.
For over a month now I have seen people preparing for this special day across the whole of Bali. The monsters I referred to are known as ogoh-ogoh and take a fair old time to construct, some large, some small, but each one is always supported upon a bamboo frame so that it may be paraded on the streets during Nyepi.
The Night Before
The first sign of Nyepi is the sound of pots and pans being clanged together at sunset. This is the beginning of the calling out of the demons and evil spirits and it is important that one starts with their home & garden. Needless to say my family and I had a lot of fun with this one :)
Then as the darkness falls, the ogoh-ogoh spring to life for their street parades, followed by loud dramatic musical performances in which some of the ogoh-ogoh do battle. A most amusing thing to watch.
After the battles and performances are done the ogoh-ogoh are ripped to shreds & sometimes burned.
This one was a rasta demon :)
Trophies are taken.
Esteban my son said 'wowwwwww!' a lot, danced a lot and generally entertained everyone till we bumped into his nanny, a lovely local lady called Ketut who looks after him a few hours a day. She seemed more than happy to quickly assume her nanny duties :)
The Day of Nyepi
From 6am to 6am the following day no one leaves their house or does any kind of work or food preparation. They don't use electricity or any kind of lighting, so when night falls on Bali tonight it will be dark. It will be very dark.
The perfect time for me to head out with my camera to shoot some Milky Way time-lapse photography! And even better, there is no moon so the tonight the stars will glow bright :)
This is what I shot last year.
Notice the green firefly drifting in from the right of the long exposure shot :)
It is a national holiday across Indonesia today though Bali is the only island to take the ogoh-ogoh & total black-out tradition so seriously.
And for that alone, I love this special little island very much.
Hope you enjoyed & learned a few things.
Come join my facebook group for lots of interesting discussion:
Okay Sam it is time to meditate...! Silenceness is coming in Bali, it is time to relax and re-power your energy. Nice ! :)
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You're right. I shouldn't be working :) Though to me, writing steemit posts always feels like fun!
Yes, time to meditate. The children are sleeping.
Thank you :)
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@samstonehill interesting!
now hussssshhhhhhh~~~
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I know I know. I just can't help myself :)
...I had to get up at 3am to shoot my time-lapse, 3 hours before the official end to this very dark night. But it's okay because I am protected by special incense ;)
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@samstonehill lol :D
special incense?
I'm off to bed .. very tired and voting power needs recharging now
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Sweet dreams :)
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Thank you for the excellent reporting!
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Thank you. Pleased you enjoyed :)
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So glad you documented this unique day I miss so so much
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I am out of bed a few hours before the 6am completion of this very black night. Have just set up my camera in the garden to shoot a timelapse of the milkyway over my home. Looks stunning!
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I can feel the vibe .....and see those ✨ stars ! Enjoy the silence !
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Great post! I just made a post for silent day too :)
https://steemit.com/photography/@makishart/bali-day-of-silence-hari-raya-nyepi-tahun-baru-saka
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I think there were a few of us. @mammasitta also did one :)
Great to see Indonesia represented on Steemit!
And reminds me that I still need to decide on a date for the one day Steemit course I will be running here in Bali...which I have been meaning to do for some time. Thanks :)
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Well, I guess Silence is golden on this day for sure.
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...and darkness. No lights of any kind permitted. I bumped into a lot of things last night and so did my 2 year old! Very funny actually :)
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As long as you did get hurt, bumping around a bit does not get you in real trouble. Kind of remind of Earth day where people are told to turn off the lights but that is not for the whole night.
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No one got hurt thankfully. And I was up at 3am to shoot a time-lapse. Will be posting it in 30mins. Looks awesome :)
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Will look for it.
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