It almost sounds like a stand-up comedian’s joke, but it isn’t. Balinese are very serious about doing nothing during the Nyepi holiday, or “Silent Day.” They take it so seriously that people have been known to be arrested — even deported — for walking outside or camping during this sacred do-nothing day.
But let’s back up for a moment to the night before, which is anything but silent.
Nyepi Eve is the night when the ogres come, grotesque and horrible, like something out of a nightmare. Dripping with blood, part man, part beast, often with exposed breasts or bizarre deformations, the ogres come to cheers and chants of the onlookers. These oversize floats are built onto hand-carried palanquins, operated by a strong team of community members, requiring not only people to lift the heavy float and move it without toppling it onto the crowd, but team members have to run ahead on the street and raise the electrical wires with long bamboo poles so that the paper-maché constructions don’t hit the wires.
I was lucky enough to attend this incredible festival in Ubud, where people work for months getting ready for the “Oguh-Oguh” parade. All over the city you could see stunning, often grisly forms taking shape. On Nyepi Eve these fantastical, horrific effigies are taken to a large field near the center of town and then, once it’s dark, the parade begins. There’s music, chanting, cheering, and wonder. The floats, one by one, make their way slowly through the parade route, often teetering precariously at times, or stopped temporarily while the electrical lines are dealt with. Needless to say, all traffic stops and the streets fill with throngs. Why? These ogres represent the bad things that viewers are “tossing away” on Nyepi, so that they’re not haunted by them in the new year.
In the past, traditionally, these effigies would be ceremoniously burned, but I did not see that happening. Either I left too early or they’ve realized that it’s just too much of a waste to go through rebuilding these things each year.
By midnight, everyone has to be back inside their home and the official Nyepi, “Silent Day” begins. Luckily for me, the Natura Resort had everything ready: Great food, a relaxing room, and the property was expansive enough that I didn’t feel trapped, but for anyone in a budget hotel without a restaurant, you’ll need to have prepared your food in advance. There’s no Grab or UberEats to depend on, there’s no cars on the roads, no restaurants are open. The entire island stays inside — many praying — and waits, silently. I believe the only exception is ambulances and those in vital health care, such as nurses and doctors who are needed for emergencies.
I found myself enjoying the novelty of Silent Day for most of the morning and used it to catch up on my journal and get other writing done, but by afternoon, I felt like I was wasting my time inside doing nothing when I longed to be out and about, exploring Bali, even if it was just a walk out in the rice fields looking at ducks (the video below is one that I took on an earlier morning, not on Nyepi itself).
By nightfall I was really ready to be dining somewhere other than the Natura Resort’s restaurant, which served excellent food and the staff (a skeleton crew remained to work on their special Silent Day) were attentive and very gracious, as always. But the menu was limited and I ended up having to order similar meals to what I’d had previous nights, which lessened the fun.
For the Balinese, this day is connected to their religion, to beliefs passed down through the generations, and everywhere you look in Bali there are reminders of their spirituality. I expected locals would roll their eyes about the inconvenience of it all, but everyone I spoke to seemed to look forward to Silent Day. Several spoke of it as a way to reconnect with what’s important, to be focusing inward on yourself rather than rushing through trying to get the errands done. They didn’t mind the interruption or the inconvenience. As a non-religious Westerner, though, while I feel lucky to have been able to see this special, unique holiday, though given so many places out there yet unexplored, I may not be back for Silent Day for a while.
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