What's up Steemy people! Living in Asia continues to expose me to new and exciting cultural differences.
A few days ago I witnessed Nyepi (aka "Silent Day"). Here's a quick Wikipedia explaining what it is.
Nyepi is a Balinese "Day of Silence" that is commemorated every Isakawarsa (Saka new year) according to the Balinese calendar (in 2018, it falls on March 17). It is a Hindu celebration mainly celebrated in Bali, Indonesia. Nyepi, a public holiday in Indonesia, is a day of silence, fasting and meditation for the Balinese. The day following Nyepi is also celebrated as New Year's Day.
Nyepi is a day reserved for self-reflection, and as such, anything that might interfere with that purpose is restricted. The main restrictions are no lighting fires (and lights must be kept low); no working; no entertainment or pleasure; no traveling; and, for some, no talking or eating at all.
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyepi
Yeah, you read that right. You aren't supposed to...
- work
- have fun
- travel
- talk
- eat
Worse yet...they turned off all of the internet for 24 hours. I felt like I was living in the dark ages of pre-internet.
Now, did I respect the culture and not do any of these things? Nope. I'm not going to be forced in to a day of reflection. I'll reflect when I want and when the government tells me to, well that's not the day.
That said, the parade was really cool and the "evil spirits" that the village creates were insanely awesome.
Check out some of these pictures and videos from the day before. These creatures, called Ogoh-ogoh's, are mostly evil spirits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogoh-ogoh
Check out these little guys!
This one was the best, I've got some video below. Definitely check it out.
BTW, I'm pretty sure they let the children carry and be in charge of these evil spirits to scare them in to believing that such evil spirits are real. Remember, ppl who live in fear of imaginary things can be more easily controlled.
What's even crazier is that after the festivities, they BURN all of these evil monsters in a ceremony. That's a lot of hard work for a one day festival.
Here's more information about both Nyepi and the Ogoh-ogoh's.
http://indosurflife.com/2012/03/balinese-silent-day-approaches-and-so-do-the-ogoh-ogoh-monsters/
http://www.bali-indonesia.com/information/nyepi-day.htm
Crazy, eh? The world is full of interesting cultures and traditions and even tho they turned off the internet in the middle of March Madness, I'm glad that I was able to experience it.
Til next time..
-Ashe
"I'll reflect when I want and when the government tells me to, well that's not the day."
😂😂😂
Sounds like something I would say. Nope, sorry cops, not gonna do introvert things today.
Here's a relevant meme :)
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I'm a big advocate of self- reflection and meditation. I do get the logic of no working; no entertainment or pleasure; no traveling; and, for some, no talking or eating at all.
What I don't get is How the hell did they get the parade going without doing any of the above!!
Also I'm really curious about how group activities help self-reflection. I mean I reflect on my life regularly. Going on a parade isn't the best context for that.
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well the parade was the day before.
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Now that makes sense.
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Nice culture, i think we need a day of silence too, alot of noise all around here. We need to have a day for meditation and self reliance
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Wao beautiful photography ashe_oro, thanks for sharing friend, i like your potential and like your profile picture.
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living without internet is like living without oxygen!
these evil spirits are so scary
they will deinitely come to haunt me in my dreams
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"Monster Ogoh Ogoh " What culture in bali..very interesting culture.. Very interesting culture...i think,
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Wow that's sounds fun. I think we should all respect different cultures and know that everything has a history.
Anyways the fun part is the burning of the evil spirits . I wish only I was there.
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Asian art, music, and cuisine, as well as literature are all important parts of Asian culture. Eastern philosophy and religion, including Islam, Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Hinduism, also play major roles
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It really would had been fun. See the culture it would had taken them weeks to create all those evil creature just what. To burn them. I say if somewhere culture exists its in asia....
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Interesting culture here, but I can't imagine myself spend 5 hours without internet, I'll just pass out. Lol
Even the food part, very scary. I eat alot but I'm not fat. But it's possible not to remember food and Internet when you're having fun. As long as you can take pictures and videos, it will be OK.
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never seen anything like it .
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Huuuhh!!!!!....I really got scared going through all this pics....lol
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Hey @ashe-oro welcome to Asia, I hope you are having great time here :)
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The world is blessed with diversity of culture, the more you move the more you learn, we even have some kind of strange culture here in Africa, like celebrating the new yam harvested and the likes.
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Great post
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Reog bali in indonesia
Please come to aceh sir @ashe-oro
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The 24 hours of no internet was KILLER around here ;) I started to write my post about this and then with no internet, could not post it and now it's gotta get finished and become something other than another file on my computer! Looks like you guys had a great time! I couldn't bare to tackle that kind of crowd lol :) Hope to see you soon!
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we drank wine, played card games and played in the pool. I refused to be forced in to silent reflection. FTM!
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btw, let's set up a Zoom meeting to record a SteemAuto.com "how to" post. Gotta get these peeps auto-voting us. PM me on FB.
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I don't use that thing! We gotta come up with a more decentralized way to talk to each other :) I put you on SA. I've been thinking about how to go about this- let's talk about it when you get back from down south!
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