Nyepi is the Balinese new year that is determined each year according to their calendar. This year it will be balinese year 1940. This ceremony is divided into two stages, the parade on Friday and Nyepi on Saturday. Firstly, this year, the Ogoh-Ogoh demonstration will take place on Friday 16th March 2018. Ogoh-Ogoh are enormous monsters, each one of them carried by dozens of men out on the street. Bali’s inhabitants parade with their Ogog-Ogoh, which are built in the image of the demons, while making as much noise as possible in order to attract the beasts on the island.
Nyepi will start on Saturday 17 March 2018 at 7 am, the Day of Silence. During 24 hours, the island is completely silent. The citizens are required to stay at home, not go out, not make noise, not use the light in order to do as if the island is empty. Thus, the demons who heard the noise and came on the island will flee it. The demons chased out, the new year can start straight away.
The novelty this year, the Ogoh-Ogoh’s makers must use recycled materials such as bamboo, wood, wasted papers…. So plastic materials and others are forbidden. Prizes will be awarded according to the theme, the design and the use of the appropriate materials.
Rahajeng Nyepi Tahun Baru Çaka 1940 !
