13/02/2024
IMPORTANT DATES COMING UP
GALUNGAN: 28th February 2024
KUNINGAN: 9th March 2024
NYEPI : 11th March 2024
Soon you will start seeing the Penjors going up for Galungan on 28.2.24
Please beware with Galungan and Kuningan and then 2 days later is Nyepi day. You may find many of the Bali traders, Warungs and drivers will have 2-4 days off around these dates and will be heading to their villages.
Banks will close for a few days also, money changers will be open but rate will be lower. ATM’s may run low on money.
GALUNGAN 28th Feb ends with Kuningan 9th March 🙏🏼🙏🏼
Enlivens the whole island of Bali. It marks the beginning of the Pawukon year.
These festivities, which start with the actual Galungan day, last 10 days and come to an end with the Kuningan celebration.
Galungan celebrates the creation of the universe, the victory of the good, Dharma, against the evil, Adharma. It takes place in the familial temples where, according to the Balinese, the gods come down to earth and the ancestors’ souls pay a visit to their family.
Galungan is always celebrated on a Wednesday.
The celebration’s preparations start on the previous Monday, with the preparation of the cakes that will be used as offerings. On the Tuesday, men prepare the festive dinner (they kill pigs, to turn them into kebabs and blood sausages) and women prepare the offerings.
Men also make some « penjor », finely decorated bamboo trunks with corn cobs, plaited palm leaves, yellow or white fabric and young coconut shoots, which they position on the side of the roads and in front of each house.
Festivities come to an end with Kuningan, which celebrates purification. On that same day, the ancestors’ souls are leaving their family’s temple.
NYEPI 11th March 🙏🏼🙏🏼
Silent day
Nyepi, is preceded by Melasti, which is celebrated throughout the whole island of Bali. It corresponds to the great purification. On this occasion, the Balinese go to the see or to a natural water source to purify their bodies and their sacred objects.
The day before Nyepi, the main road junctions receive large offerings supposed to exorcise evil spirits.
At night, great processions march through the streets carrying ogoh-ogog (paper-mache monsters, demons’ folk statues) representing the past year’s demons. Cymbals and firecrackers accompany the procession to frighten off evil spirits and the statues will be burned afterwards .
Nyepi is the Balinese New Year (of the Saka calendar). It takes place in March or April according on the Balinese calendar.
It corresponds to a day of silence, meditation, to refocus and liberate the minds from negative emotions. This silence is also aimed at convincing demons that the island is deserted, so that they will not come back to disturb its inhabitants.
During that day, it is strictly forbidden to anyone (Balinese and tourists) to go out on the streets, to set a fire or to turn the lights on, to work and even to entertain themselves for 24 hours starting from 6am. Even the airport is closed for the day (except for medical emergencies)!
Please enjoy this amazing time to be in Bali
