Ogoh-ogoh and Nyepi

Ogoh-Ogoh Carnival - What a festival!

     Ogoh-Ogoh is a sculpture, puppet or effigy in the likeness of 

a demon. The forms of the effigy vary but are mostly taken from Hindu stories. Some of them take the shape of a demon with a lolling tongue, a mythical creature with fiery eyes, a cruel animal, horrible face, ghost or other bad creatures. The body of Ogoh-Ogoh can reach up to nine feet in height, 40-60 kg in weight. Ogoh-Ogoh is built of a bamboo frame (for its body, fingers, hands and feet), the face is made from cork, the nails are made of plastic while the hair is made from wool or fibre.

            Firstly, the people will make the skeleton of the demon from bamboo, then covered it by papier-mache and paint it. They add nails to each finger while the cork for the face is carved in a likeness of one of the demons. After that, they set the hair, put a dress round it's body and complete its decoration. Some of the Ogoh-Ogoh also wear a crown on their head. The people also prepare stretcher to carry the Ogoh-Ogoh around the village.

            

          Ogoh-Ogoh is prepared by a group of men, especially the young, in the "Bale Banjar". The Bale Banjar is a meeting hall/ place where the members of Banjar (a community extension of the house and family) usually gather to discuss the village's needs. The fuction of Bale Banjar is as a place to hold meetings among the village community and host activities.

There are 1376 villages, each village has 5-11 Banjars. If we assume there are 5 Banjars in one village and each Banjar has one Ogoh-Ogoh, that means there will be 6,880 Ogoh-Ogoh on the whole island. However, in some Banjars they build up to 3 Ogoh-Ogoh each.

       It costs the Banjar approx. 3-6 million Rupiah to make an Ogoh-Ogoh. The finance comes from the Banjar community businesses within the village. A family may contribute Rp. 10.000 - Rp. 100.000 each. It takes 2-4 months to finish an Ogoh-Ogoh. Everynight, from 7.00PM-11.00PM, all the young men will come to the Banjar to build their Ogoh-Ogoh. In some villages, there is an Ogoh-Ogoh competition.

         The function of Ogoh-Ogoh is to push away the evil spirits who descend on the earth on the evening before "NYEPI DAY" (Balinese New Year) to disturb the equilibrium of world peace. The Hindu people around Indonesia and especially Bali, choose the demons' shape because it is believed that the evil spirits will be affraid of these screaming forms and hurry to leave the island. Ogoh-Ogoh must be available on this evening to chase away the evil spirits and to clean the island in order to welcome the new year. 

Nyepi Day

      Nyepi Day is a day of reflection, when all residents, both Hindu and non-Hindu, respect the rules of silence which mark the Hindu New Year. Nyepi Day, according to the Balinese calendar, falls on either 11 March or 09 April 2005 (evidently this date is chosen by preists using the moon and various calendars and they're having a discussion at time of printing as to the correct date. Call us for the latest info.) It is a day of absolute quiet throughout the island. No activity is whatsoever is allowed, no traffic at all on the roads, no fire may be lit, use of electricity is banned (except in the tourist hotels) and traffic is banned from the streets for the 36 hour commemorative period. As a result, passengers will not be able to arrive or depart from Denpasar Airport on this day and must remain within their hotel's grounds.

      Purification and sacrificial rites are held the day before - culminating at night with Ogoh-Ogoh dancing through the villages. The idea is to wake up all the evil spirits on Bali then on Nyepi when the spirits return, Bali is absolutely quiet and the spirits, not able to find anyone, leave the island for good.