Nyepi Day, When Bali Dares To Stop

Illustration (Detha Arya Tifada / VOI)

JAKARTA - I was too tired. Give me a moment. To wash wounds to wash the soul to be holy again. Oo even if it's only for a day

The sentence above is a fragment of Navicula's lyrics from the song When All Is Getting Fast, Bali Dares to Stop and Silences. This song has the theme Nyepi Day. Created by the vocalist, Gede Robi as a gift for Bali on this once a year festival.

Today, Wednesday, March 25th, the celebration of Nyepi in the Saka Year 1942. The song is a reminder again.

Nyepi Day is a Hindu celebration. On this day, they perform the ritual of spending time at home to do loneliness, which according to chess brata penyepian (four fasts) means dead geni (cannot blame fire), die of work (cannot work), die mellow (cannot travel), and die auctionuan (do not carry out activities).

Bali is an area that has a majority of Hindus. During Nyepi, the province does not carry out activities. Public facilities, such as airports, terminals, ports, roads and tourist attractions, are closed for 24 hours. For those wandering the streets there will be customary sanctions.

Nyoman S. Pendit writes in his book Nyepi: Awakening, Tolerance, and Harmony (2001), glorifying Nyepi Day is an absolute necessity to improve the personal spirituality of each Balinese Hindu.

"Hindus convince themselves that services given by individuals for religious purposes are highly desirable, even though these services cannot be measured by any material exchange rate and can only be measured by inner satisfaction," wrote Nyoman.

Nyepi Day has a good impact on the environment. Hindu religious leader in Bali, I Made Sember, said that Nyepi can purify nature.

"Nyepi is very good for nature and its contents. Because once a year nature can take a break from the stress of human activity, which has the core of purifying nature," he told VOI some time ago.

Meanwhile, WALHI environmentalist Anton P Widjaya thinks Nyepi is a respite to provide an opportunity for nature and the environment to breathe and recover.

"Respect for Hindus in celebrating Nyepi Day is not just a tolerance for sacred day celebrations based on religion & belief, but deeper is respect for all rituals and long processions that have an impact on improving environmental conditions," said Anton to VOI.

Anton added, during Nyepi there was no use of dirty energy and no pollution. "Deeper is the acculturation of this belief & culture, giving birth to an equal perspective and way of treating the universe, so that its sustainability functions are optimal in serving and saving the lives of the human race in it," he said.