Balinese Demons and My Inner Pyro

    As I was planning our week in Bali, I discovered that we would be around for the Balinese New Year, Nyepi. I immediately googled the celebration, wondering if we would be in for a crazy party or a super formal ritual. Turns out that on Nyepi, the Day of Silence, everyone stays inside and mostly sleeps. No lights on outside, few inside and no excessive noise. If you leave your hotel, you will be asked firmly by the police to return immediately. And everything shuts down except emergency services and police. The airport is closed.

    I ended up changing one of our flights to accommodate our having one less day to explore Bali and read in passing that there might be a little parade on the night before.

    But when we got here and saw the Ogoh-Ogoh, I realized more research was required. I returned to the internet.

Ogoh-Ogoh at the parade - we first saw them getting them getting their last coats of paint inside the temples.

    The reasoning behind the Day of Silence is that, if we are all very careful, the demons will think that no one lives on Bali and they will leave the island in peace. The parade and party the night before is partially about confusing the hell out of the demons.

    The Ogoh-Ogoh are giant models of Balinese Hindu demons, ten foot tall monsters with overgrown fingernails, and clear anger issues. I'm guessing they were made out of paper mache, but cannot swear to it. They are carried on crosshatched bamboo platforms by teams of men and boys through the street. The more coordinated teams dipped their demons towards the crowd, and kept up a bouncing breath while standing still. They were effectively intimidating.

    Now to the confusing them part - The Ogoh-Ogoh are carried from one end of the village to the other and spun in circles at every crossroad. Fireworks were set off near them (and the crowd incidentally) and finally they were taken back to the area in front of the temple and burnt. If that doesn't disorient a demon, what will?

    The bonfire was huge - like no one within ten feet of the blistering heat huge. 

Bonfire just getting started.

    And along with the traditional Ogoh-Ogoh, was this guy:

Hello, Mr. Reaper sir...

     I've been thinking a lot about whether him being around is a scary sign of cultural imperialism, proof that living religions are awesome, or somewhere between the two. He ended up in the fire, consumed with the other Ogoh-Ogoh, and it was a satisfying bit of ritual to watch 'em burn.