NYEPI.

As we were exploring Ubud, we came across various statues that looked very, very creepy. But besides being creepy, they had so much detail to them. You could really see how much effort people put into the art of crafting the Ogoh-Ogoh. But more about these crazy statues in a second, as they have a unique and beautiful story to them.

We wanted to extend our stay in Ubud for one more night, so check-out on Saturday, the 29th of march. But our host told us, that on Saturday, there is no check-out, no electricity, no food, no restaurants. I was confused. So I investigated more.

What I found? Nyepi.

Nyepi is the Hindu New Year celebration. It is a day of silence, self-reflection, and purification. The entire island of Bali comes to a standstill—no lights, no travel, no work, and even the airport closes for 24 hours.

But now the story behind it, that really touched me and moved everything into a different light.

The night before the Day of Silence there is a celebration that is meant to chase away the evil spirits for the year to come. For months, each neighbourhood builds sculptures of demons from papier-mâché and styrofoam. Then they place these demons on a bamboo structure and carry them in the streets. The procession comes with music played by the youth and dances.

So it was finally time for the people to present their Ogoh-Ogoh statues on Friday Evening. Sam and I where already expecting a lot from it to be honest, as we saw those big scary Ogoh-Ogoh being built all around Ubud - and to say the least, we did not get disappointed.

The crowd was huge, we saw people already waiting since 4pm and the festival started around 7pm. First the kids with their small Ogoh-Ogoh which were really cute and were my favourite part of the evening.

People were pushing, standing on eachothers toes, but somehow it was all love, all pure joy and happiness.

I have never experienced a festival like this. It’s hard to put it into words to describe what we witnessed, but it was pure chaos, pride, history, tradition and joy in one packed evening.

A hot Leica M and a Girl.

Next day is Day of Silence or like I mentioned Nyepi Day. The origin of Nyepi was to pretend Bali is an uninhabited island, so the negative spirits or demons would stay away.

So how I see it? They parade the streets with those crazy looking Ogoh-Ogoh to scare away all the negative energy, spirits or demons.

Then the following day, they fast, meditate, “hide” and make Bali feel like an unhabited place so the negative spirits won’t find it.

Love it!