WELCOMING NYEPI SOON
WELCOMING NYEPI SOON
Every culture and religion in the world has its own way to define and celebrate the coming of the new year. Hindus of Bali welcome the New Year based on the traditional Saka Calendar with ritual of Nyepi. This year, Nyepi will take place on 21 March 2015. Nyepi is an extraordinary experience to find in a whole Bali island where it will be completely silent in an atmosphere of complete tranquility and peace. On the eve of Nyepi, roads will be filed with parades of giants puppets called “ogoh-ogoh” accompanied by clanging gongs and other percussion instruments. Devotees will then burn the huge puppets of demonic figures to get rid of past evils and bring good fortune in the year ahead. On Nyepi day, the entire island of Bali will come to a complete standstill. To allow all to follow their rituals, all traffic will be stopped, no shop will be open, and a complete silence. Witness the ogoh-ogoh rituals and experience Nyepi only in Bali.