balinese new year Nyepi

Nyepi is balinese new year ,Nyepi derive from ‘sepi‘ means silence or no activities . The activities in all over the Bali island is stopped for 24 hours.The main purpose of the Nyepi Day ceremonies is to pray to the God (Hyang Widhi Wasa), wish that HE to clean the universe (bhuwana agung) as well as the ‘universe” within men (bhuwana alit).

Based on the history of its birth of Saka Year, Nyepi Day also means to be a momentum to increase genuine solidarity and tolerance between people, accept the differences and similarity as natural factor of life and put them in a balance proportion so they can be in a positive side of life. We do not to fight each other because our differences. There are four mandatory religious prohibitions called Catur Brata Penyepian that should be followed by common Hindu people in Bali.

The prohibitions include :

• amati geni or no fire,
• amati karya or no work,
• amati lelanguan or no entertainment and pleasure,
• amati lelungan or no travelling.

These prohibitions help people to control their five earthy senses by mind and wisdom in order to increase the quality of life for the upcoming year. For people with higher spiritual ability or willing to have higher spiritual life are expected to perform further prohibitions include fasting by not eating or drinking, stay still by not talking, meditating by focusing the mind to the God and praying.