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| Bali
Festival - Events |
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The Balinese use two
local calendars, the Hindu saka and the wuku
and the western calendar. The wuku calendar, is used to determine
festival dates, uses 10 different types of weeks between one and
10 days long, all running simultaneously! The crossing of the various
weeks determines auspicious days. It's impossible to work it out
yourself: so go to a tourist office and ask which festivals and
celebrations are coming up. Try to attend at least one.
The Galungan Festival is Bali's major feast and
is held throughout the island. It is an annual event in the wuku
year. During this 10-day period all the gods come to earth for the
festivities and barongs (mythical lion-dog creatures)
dance from temple to temple and village to village. The last and
most important day of this festival is Kuningan.
Nyepi is the major festival of the saka
year - it's the last day of the year, and normally falls towards
the end of March or the beginning of April.
The day before is set as a day of purification across the island.
The night before, evil spirits are chased away with noisy cymbals,
gongs, drums and flaming torches. On Nyepi itself,
everyone stays quietly at home, making no noise, no lights and no
cooking. The legend is that when evil spirits descend, they are
fooled into thinking that Bali is uninhabited and leave the island
in peace for another year. |
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