Nyepi or Silent Day is a very unique holiday in Bali as also in its neighboring islands such as Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Penida. Its purpose is to celebrate the Balinese New Year. Since Balinese people follow a different calendar system, it does not always happen on the same date as we know it.

Moreover, before the silent day, you need to make sure to visit the stunning Ogoh-Ogoh Parade in Bali, featuring colourful props and costumes. Ogoh-Ogoh Parade is a Balinese cultural highlight you don’t want to miss.

The evening before Nyepi, each village will have a huge parade presenting large artfully crafted monsters, made from bamboo and recycled paper which are knows as “Ogoh-Ogoh”.They will be carried on the streets, along with Balinese traditional music and not to mention the traditional dances and creative performances lighting up the whole city with colours.

The story behind this it is that just before the parades start, every household will make a lot of noise with banging pots and pans! This is to chase the evil spirits away from their houses. It is believed that these spirits will go into the Ogoh-Ogohs. With the bad spirits are inside the Ogoh-Ogohs, they will be burned after the parade.

As you know, the following day to this is Nyepi or Silent Day. And the reason why you have to be quiet on this day is not to allow any evil spirits to come back to your house.

This year Neypi or Silent Day took place on 17th March, 2019. During the Silent day, there are rules that we must abide by in Bali.

• No lighting of fires or turning on the lights. So a good period of the day is spent in the dark
• All shops and businesses are closed.
• The airport in Bali is closed for one day, starting from 06.00 to 06.00 on the following day. So, there is no inbound or outbound flights taking place.
• Entertainment activities are restricted. The government turns off Wi-Fi for the day across the whole of Bali.
• It is not allowed to make any kind of noise.
• Hospitals will open only for emergencies.
• It’s forbidden for people to leave their homes. Only the Pecalang (village security) patrols the streets to make sure no one is outdoors.

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