Silence Day, Silent Day, Nyepi

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INDONESIA SAIJIKI


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Silence Day, Silent Day, Nyepi

***** Location: Indonesia
***** Season: Rainy Season
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

Nyepi is a day to make and keep the balance of nature. It is based on the story of when King Kaniska I of India was chosen in 78 A.D. The King was famous for his wisdom and tolerance for the Hinduism and Buddhism societies. In that age, Aji Saka did Dharma Yatra (the missionary tour to promote and spread Hinduism) to Indonesia and introduce the Saka year.

Nyepi Day or silent day is a unique day where entire island of Bali is silent. There is no traffic, fire and human activities are allowed on this day. Bali Island is keep black out on the night where is there is no single light is allowed. This is very unique where there is no one region or country can stop the activities within a day in the world, but here in Bali you can meet it.

Nyepi day or silent day is a unique way of Balinese Hindu in Bali to celebrate their New Year which is called Caka Year.
Balinese Hindus have many kind of celebrations (some sacred days) but Nyepi is, perhaps the most important of the island's religious days and the prohibitions are taken seriously, particularly in villages outside of Bali's southern tourist belt.

In 2007, the Caka year is on 19 March 2007 where usual activities of procession to celebrate the Nyepi Day is held like Melasti Ceremony, Ogoh – Ogoh Precession and Ngembak Geni day.


Melasti Ceremony
is one of the important Balinese Hindu rituals that are held every one year before the Nyepi Day.

Ogoh – Ogoh Procession or Big Giant Idol Pageant
One day before the Nyepi Day / silent day, it was regularly big event in Bali to pageant the big giant idol which is called Ogoh-Ogoh.



Ngembak Geni (the day after Nyepi) is the beginning day of Caka Year that is usually used to visit each other among the humanity (socializing). The social ambience is very felt in this day where mostly the Balinese can meet each other and forgive the sin if they have made a mistake.


The Balinese use many different calendar systems. They have adopted the Gregorian calendar for business and government purposes. But for the endless procession of holy days, temple anniversaries, celebrations, sacred dances, building houses, wedding ceremonies, death and cremation processes and other activities that define Balinese life, they have two calendar systems.

The first is the Pawukon (from the word Wuku which means week) and Sasih (which is means month). Wuku consists of 30 items starting from Sinta, the first Wuku and end up with the Watugunung the last one. The Pawukon, a 210-day ritual calendar brought over from Java in the 14th century, is a complex cycle of numerological conjunctions that provides the basic schedule for ritual activities on Bali.
Sasih, a parallel system of Indian origin, is a twelve month lunar calendar that starts with the vernal equinox and is equally important in determining when to pay respect to the Gods.
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Worldwide use



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Things found on the way



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HAIKU

we hold hands
under a palm tree -
Silence Day

Gabi Greve
1990, Ubud


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Related words



***** INDONESIA SAIJIKI


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