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HAPPY Balinese New Year (The Balinese Day of SILENCE)!
Tomorrow, March 23, 2012. Balinese will celebrate New Year called “Nyepi “ (Saka New Year 1934). The name Nyepi comes from the root word “sepi” meaning quiet or silent. It’s definitely different kind of commonly new year celebration around the world. It’s the day of silence, fasting, and meditation, all activities should be paused, airport closed, electric off. It will be in total darkness, and no one allowed going out, no TV, no sound, and no unnecessary lights. So the New Year will be started from zero, from the beginning. We cannot make new calculation if we do not start it from zero as if starting a new life in the New Year. HAPPY Balinese New Year (The Balinese Day of SILENCE)!
galunang & kuningan
Galungan is the most important feast for Balinese Hindus, a celebration to honor the creator of the universe (Ida Sang Hyang Widi) and the spirits of the honored ancestors. The festival symbolizes the victory of good (Dharma) over evil (Adharma), and encourages the Balinese to show their gratitude to the creator and sainted ancestors. Offerings to the Ancestors The house compounds that make up the nucleus of Balinese society come alive with devotions offered by the families living within. Families offer bountiful sacrifices of food and flowers to the ancestral spirits, expressing gratitude and hopes for protection. These sacrifices are also offered at local temples, which are packed with devotees bringing their offerings. The whole island sprouts tall bamboo poles called "penjor" - these are usually decorated with fruit, coconut leaves, and flowers, and set up on the right of every residence entrance. At each gate, you'll also find small bamboo altars set up especially for the holiday, each one bearing woven palm-leaf offerings for the spirits. Intensive Preparations The preparations for Galungan begin several days before the actual feast day. Three days before Galungan - "Penyekeban" - families begin their preparations for Galungan. "Penyekeban" literally means "the day to cover up ", as this is the day when green bananas are covered up in huge clay pots to speed their ripening. Two days before Galungan - "Penyajahan" - marks a time of introspection for Balinese, and more prosaically, a time to make the Balinese cakes known as jaja. These colored cakes made of fried rice dough are used in offerings and are also eaten specially on Galungan. This time of the year finds a glut of jaja in every village market. A day before GalunNyepi The Balinese New Year
Hari Raya Nyepi - Nyepi Ceremony is a Hindu Day of Silence or the Hindu New Year in the Balinese Saka calendar. The largest celebrations are held in Bali as well as in Balinese Hindu communities around Indonesia. On New Year's Eve the villages are cleaned, food is cooked for 2 days and in the evening as much noise is made as possible to scare away the devils. On the following day, Hindus do not leave their homes, cook or engage in any activity. Streets are deserted, and tourists are not allowed to leave hotel complexes. No arrival nor departure flights at Ngurah Rai Airport in Denpasar - Bali. No tours activities... Nyepi Day Calender : Saturday, 05 March 2011 (Caka Year 1933) Friday, 23 March 2012 (Caka Year 1934) Tuesday, 12 March 2013 (Caka Year 1935) Monday, 31 March 2014 (Caka Year 1936) Saturday, 21 March 2015 (Caka, Year 1937) Wednesday, 9 March 2016 (Caka Year 1938) Tuesday, 28 March 2017 (Caka Year 1939) Saturday, 17 March 2018 (Caka Year 1940) Friday, 5 April 2019 (Caka Year 1941) Wednesday, 23 March 2020 (Caka 1942) Nyepi Day (Balinese New Year) is also determined using the Balinese calendar, the eve of Nyepi falling on the night of the new moon whenever it occurs around March/April each year. Therefore, the date for NyepiHAPPY GALUNGAN AND KUNINGAN DAY BALI!!!
Bali will celebrate Galungan Day on February 01, 2012 and Kuningan day falls on February 11, 2012, exactly ten days after the celebrations of Galungan. It is celebrated once every six months according to the Balinese calendar. Galungan Day is the most important feast for Balinese Hindus, to thank God and feel grateful for his blessing and for the creation of the earth and its contents. Symbolically, Galungan represents the universal struggle of good versus evil. It is a time for personal reflection, to address past wrongdoings and make changes towards a better future.
Idul Fitri or not…Only God knows?
By: Emma Kwee
Fantastic, by the time I finished editing our article for Idul Fitri, confusion broke out on twitter and Facebook. Apparently the end of Ramadan, calculated by the position of the moon, will now fall on wednesday the 31st instead of the 30th of August.
As the Jakarta Globe stated:
The Ministry of Religious Affairs has announced that Idul Fitri will fall on Wednesday, Aug. 31, not Tuesday as most calendars assume.
The decision was taken following a session at the ministry on Monday afternoon and was announced by Religion Minister Suryadharma Ali.
The result was not far from previous predictions, but was taken because the moon's position is still less than two degrees above the horizon. The start of idul fitri is determined by the position of the moon.
Unfortunately, this means another day of fasting and working, and rearranging travel plans. To add to the confusion, some muezzin's already started singing the takbiran prayers signifying the end of the Ramadan. Some funny reactions on Facebook:
ALLAH: Another case of much ado about nothing
Many years ago I met a Sufi master whose profound understanding of Islam truly impressed me. But before I continue with this story, let me state that almost all the Muslims with whom I have had close friendships have either been Sufis - or were gravitating towards a mystical interpretation of Islam. The mystical approach is experiential and private; whereas ritualistic religion is regulated by public behavior and therefore tends to be tribalistic in nature. I find it impossible to have an intelligent conversation with fundamentalists of any persuasion - whether Muslim, Christian or whatever. This is because fundamentalism is antagonistic to intelligence. Wherever violence erupts over religious differences, fundamentalism is invariably the root cause. Brawn and brute force override brain and heart when independent thinking is suppressed. Looking up the word "fundamentalism" in my trusty digital dictionary, I found this concise summary: "Islamic fundamentalism appeared in the 18th and 19th centuries as a reaction to the disintegration of Islamic political and economic power, asserting that Islam is central to both state and society and advocating strict adherence to the Koran (Qur'an) and to Islamic law (sharia), supported if need be by jihad or holy war." There you have it. Fundamentalism is basically an outward manifestation of ego insecurity. An entire tribe or nation can suffer from ego insecurity and seek refuge in hardline dogmatism and fanaticism. You could say it's a pathological condition and, as such, can be quite easily cured - once the hidden hand behind the reactionary forces is revealed and surgically amputated. In every case you will find that the chief puppetmaster isn't even a believer. He cynically exploits the gullibility of the mindless mob and manipulates its collective pain-body through control of the mass media and law enforcement. Coming back to my Sufi friend who enlightened me about the essence o
A Caste of Modern Marriage in Bali
By: Sita van Bemmelen
In my experience, the airport is a place full of surprises. From time to time I meet people there by chance whom I haven’t seen in ages. The other day I met Mrs. Kartika, who immediately walked up to me, pecking a neat kiss on each of my cheeks. She used to be the head of the regional bureau for women’s empowerment a few years ago. During the two years she had filled that position she never seemed confident and more than once had whispered to me that she still needed to learn a lot. But although she had asked me several times to give a talk or facilitate a meeting organized by her bureau, we never exchanged more than the usual pleasantries. This time, however, we unexpectedly ended up in a serious conversation about family matters.
An Ida Bagus
‘Aren’t you and your husband afraid that your daughter will get involved with a non-Balinese young man now that she is studying in the Netherlands?’ she inquired after I had told her how my family was doing. ‘Well, that is of course a possibility’, I answered lightheartedly,’ but let’s wait and see. My husband and I too would of course be happy if she returns to Indonesia after she has finished her studies’. ‘And did the family agree that you let her go?’ she pressed on, looking me suddenly squarely in the eye. Sensing that she would appreciate it if I gave her an honest answer, I told her that perhaps my husband’s relatives had misgivings about that, but had not expressed these directly to us. ‘But don’t they prefer your daughter to marry an Ida Bagus?’ she persisted. ‘Hmm, yes, of course they do’, I conceded, ‘for our family, a husband for the girls has to come from a Brahman family. But preferably he has to have a good education too. It’s like what my sister-in-law told my daughter: “Dayu, look for an Ida Bagus who is a doctor!” Clearly relieved that I understood the way of thinking of Balinese high caste families, Mrs Kartika’s face brightened: ‘Yes, that would be the ideal match!’
Diversity united: ‘ten years of regional autonomy: where is Indonesia heading?’
By: Sita van Bemmelen
Last November I attended a workshop in Jakarta on the provocative subject ‘ten years of regional autonomy: where is Indonesia heading?’
Approximately thirty participants attended. The Christian Dayak, Toba Batak, and Toraja were represented, the Buddhist segment of society, a women’s organization of a traditional (adat) community in the interior of Sulawesi, the street children in Jakarta, and the gay and lesbian community. But also the religious majority component of Indonesian society was included. There was a spokesman of the Wahid Institute established in honor of the late President Abdurrachman Wahid who has been pronounced as the father of pluralism as well as the network of liberal Muslims (JIL), and a Muslim women’s organization from Yogyakarta. The list is not exhaustive, but suffice to say that the workshop participants came from all over Indonesia, adhered to different creeds, and consisted of men and women. One may wonder: what brought this bewildering mix of people together?
Indonesia
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