The Preparation of The Biggest Procession in Bali among the Covid-19 Outbreak
Every year we celebrate a holiday called the Nyepi Day or the Silent Day. Nyepi means silent. It actually means not just silent or absence of noise but more than that. During that day we do not go to work, we do not light any fire, no travel, and no entertainment. This is a kind of self control practice. And it last for 24 hours on March 25th, 2020.
The night before the silent day is the most anticipated night by the Balinese, especially by the youngsters. This is the night where the whole villages in Bali hold an ogoh-ogoh parade. Ogoh-ogoh is a kind of a huge (2 meter hight) papier mache built with paper, sponge, bamboo, paints, and other materials people can use.
This papier mache could not be built in a day nor a week. It usually need several months to create. They have to manage the funding, the design, and the actual work of making the paper mache. The fund usually obtained through donation from the village or those who would like to.
Usually every hamlet (part of a village) create one ogoh-ogoh. So, in a village there could be about 10 ogoh-ogoh.
The place to build this paper mache is usually a public place such as a village hall. The young people gather in the village hall in their spare time (usually in the evening) to build it. It is a fun activities since they can gather with their friends or make new friends.
Today I rode my motor cycle to several village halls in Denpasar just to see how they prepared for the parade. Most of the paper mache were ready for parade.
Most, if not all, the papier mache are in the form of demons or evil mythical creature.There is a reason for this. These ogoh-ogoh represent negative energy or evil. The parade is supposed to drive the evil spirits away. At the end of the parade, all the participants would gather in a wide open space (such as football field) to burn all the papier maches.
How does an evil beast look like? Well, it really depends on the creativity of the people who make the ogoh-ogoh. But they have something in common, big eyes, big mouth, big teeth. And some may look like animal like pig, bird, tiger, you name it.
Lately, there was a letter from the Bali Hindu board to the all the villages in Bali, not to hold any parade on evening March 24th. I am sure many people disappointed with this situation, but people understand how serious the covid-19 outbreak is. On the other hand, the preparation and the building of ogoh-ogoh are still continuing. Will see what happen on on the 24th.
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