The Balinese do a Purification Ceremony on the Beach the Day Before NyepiLast week the Balinese celebrated their New Year which is called Nyepi. Unlike the West where New Years involves drinking, partying, loud music and lots of food, here in Bali Nyepi is a day of silence where you reflect on the year that has passed and the one that will follow. The airports, seaports and roadways are closed. No one is allowed to turn on TV, computers, stereos, or video games. No cooking is allowed or no fires. At night no lights can be turned on. I loved exposing my 12 year old to this phenomenon. Can you imagine a thriving busy tourist island of over 3 million people shutting down completely?
Wow, what a beautiful day. The first thing you always do on Nyepi when you wake up is run outside and listen to the silence. Have you ever been anywhere, where there was no distant sound of a car or an airplane for 24 hours? It's different than being in an isolated silent place. It's being in the middle of a busy town with absolute silence. Remy and I had a great long conversation, wrote in our journals, meditated (Remy was a little antsy for that),read and ate cold pre-cooked food in the fridge. And at night, we carefully negotiated our way out to the garden to observe an unbelievable night sky. The pitch black darkness of the island created one of the most dense skys I have ever observed. It was an absolute forest of stars. I've never seen the sky have so many dimensions. I have to say Nyepi is my favorite day of the year. The only thing that could make it better would be if the world could join us here on bali island and engage in a day of quiet reflection, while at the same time conserving an amount of electricity and c20 gases more than we can probably fathom.