Bali is wellknown as an island with alot of uniqueness. The culture which based on Hindu religion and the mixture of ancient Java and Bali tradition, is so richful. This Hindu Bali culture, as a minority in Indonesia, has a huge value of impressive ritual and tradition. The Balinesse have their own calendar. With its complicated and sophisticated Lunar and Solar plus Wuku System, the rituals occur almost every day.

One of the rituals is Nyepi Holiday (The Silent Day). It occurs in the Ninth Month (in Bali Calendar System), or usually in March. This year, it occurs on 5th March. Before the Nyepi Day, the people have mecaru Tawur Agung (the ritual of Purification). In this ritual, they make an offering to the Bhutakala, performed the Ogoh-ogoh in the night before Nyepi. The creature of Ogoh-ogoh is a symbol of evil. This performance means a symbol of Satisfying the evil, trap them inside the Ogoh-ogoh, then burn it until the spirit of the evil be vanished.

When the Nyepi day, all arround the island is so silence, there are no outdoor activity. They have Brata Panyepian with no Fire, no Going Out, No Work, No Entertainment. Even the airplane is not allowed to fly.In the night, there's no light, so the night is the darkest night in the year, even they can't see their own nose. The Nyepi day means the purification for the world and the little one (the soul), as a New Year, The Saka Year. This Year is the Saka Year of 1933. So, if we talk about saving the world by energy saving, Bali did it along before and do it every year, at least for 24 hours in a year. You can imagine the pure air arround, after the mother earth has a little rest.

The Ogoh-ogoh In Kuta, Bali

     These are pictures presentation about the baliritual, Ngaben, the cremation in Kuta, Bali. This rituals occurs in the good day according to the balinese calendar system, that explained in the last post about WARA, which consist of ten groups of days call EKA WARA,  DWI WARA, TRI WARA CATUR WARA, PANCA WARA, SAD WARA, SAPTA WARA (Similar to: week), ASTA WARA, SANGA WARA AND DASA WARA.These combinations and synchronization result a good day, the best day to do rituals.
     The One of the most popular icon of these baliritual is  BADE,  a symbol of the transportation for the holy spirit in their journey to heaven.

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WARA, is a system in balinese  calendar that organized ten groups of days. These groups usually be combined and synchronized each other to be matched. The ten groups are :

1. Eka Wara contains one, named Luwang.

2. Dwi Wara contains two, named Menga and Pepet.
3. Tri Wara : Pasah, Beteng, Kajeng.

4. Catur Wara: Sri, Laba, Jaya, Mandala

5. Panca Wara: Umanis, Pahing, Pon, Wage, Kliwon

6. Sad Wara : Tungleh, Ariyang, Urukung, Paniron, Was, Mahulu

7. Sapta Wara : Redite, Soma, Anggara, Buda, Wraspati, Sukra, Saniscara
    (=Sunday,Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday.Friday,Saturday)

8. Asta Wara : Sri, Indra, Guru,Yama,Rudra,Brahma,Kala,Uma

9. Sanga Wara : Dangu, Jangur, Gigis, Nohan, Ogan, Erangan, Urungan, 
    Tulus, Dadi

10.Dasa Wara : Pandita, Pati, Suka, Duka, Sri, Manuh, Manusa, Raja,  Dewa, Raksasa.

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     WUKU is a terms in balinese calendar that collect weeks into one periode or one cycle of days. Wuku contains thirty weeks, each of them has its own name, like Sinta for the first week/wuku, Landep for the second, Ukir for the third and so on until the 30 th named Watugunung. This system is usually use for the birthday or the anniversary, combined with Saptawara (week), and Pancawara (contains five days named Umanis, Pahing, Pon, Wage, Kliwon). For example, Galungan falls on Budha (wednesday) Kliwon, wuku Dungulan (11th wuku), Saraswati holiday falls on Saniscara (=saturday) Umanis, wuku Watugunung (30th wuku). So, the holiday or the birthday that uses Wuku as its base, will be always took place every same day, same pancawara and same wuku. It means, that holidays will cycle in every 210 days (Wuku contains of 30 week, a week contains of 7 days).

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Bali is a beatiful island and it has a several name to represent itself, such as The Island of God, Paradise Island, The Island of a Thousand Temple and so on. Bali is an island with a tropical climate because it's position is beyond the equator. For the people who have visited, they just like the weather. The island has a lot of beautiful spot to explore: the beach, the lake, the mount, the hill, the paddy terrace (this is one of traditional irrigation system), the landscape. To reach all of the spot, you do not need lots of days to take. Because the island spread from east to west about 250 kilometers, and from north to south about 200 kilometers (about 5,000 square kilometers width). Even for the two most popular beach: Kuta on the west side to Sanur on the east side, you just need a half an hour to take, and to go to the lake, just take one hour from the city of Denpasar (the capital of Bali).

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