Ogah-Ogah Parade

Nyepi is Balinese new year and much ceremony is upheld in the lead up to this momentous event which culminates on Nyepi day itself which is New Years Day.
None the least being the grand Ogah Ogah Parade which is traditionally held on new year's eve to much fanfare and much noise.
It's a huge exorcism ceremony that is held at the main village cross roads which is said to be a highly charged location at least in supernatural terms.
The ceremony is aimed to cleanse all nature and it's content so many prayers and offerings are made to appease the Gods.

Two of dozens of musicians taking part in the Ogah Ogah parade

All through the back streets of Bali in temple grounds we observed the construction of these huge grotesque effigies of Gods, with much emphasis placed on the genitalia of each creation....the youth of each village raise funds for their creations which traditionally culminated with the effigies being burned as an offering although these days I'm not so sure if they are always burned.
A theme is chosen each year so there is a similarity to all of the huge monsters, colourful, grotesque and sometimes confronting they are!

 Sita is symbolized in this Ogah Ogah effigy

In stark contrast to our western tradition of seeing in the new year with revelry, the Balinese open their New Year in silence . From 6am on new year's day to 6am on the following day no one is allowed to venture outside, play music, watch tv, use computers or eat any food and no lights may be used.
Pecalangs are the security guards and in each village they patrol the area for that period of silence to ensure that no one breaks the rules and this applies to locals and foreigners alike, there are no exceptions.

With all the lights switched out, when the evil spirits fly over the island of Bali they will think the island is deserted and keep on going.
Similarly the noise during the Ogah Ogah parade is used to frighten the evil spirits away.
The Balinese people are very superstitious and take their ceremony very seriously.

So back to the Ogah Ogah parade.....I was fortunate to participate in the parade of the local village where I was staying just outside of Ubud along with my traveling companion...the fact that we even made it was a miracle as despite the village being only a stone's throw from our accommodation it seemed that Bali time was really playing out as everyone kept giving us a different start time...in fact I'm not sure that anyone really did know and there certainly didn't appear to be any urgency about the whole thing. Maybe the village elder knew but we weren't privy to that despite the owner of our accommodation being 'that' elder.

In any case we were given a lift to the main road and informed that we would have to walk back to the resort as the road would be blocked and no cars would be able to get through...thank goodness I had the foresight to bring along my trusty little LED torch as there was almost zero visibility under this auspicious new moon. The way home was a little perilous, a track, and I do mean track as the once reasonably well maintained road has been reduced to little more than a goat track and was now mostly full of potholes, and broken rubble for so much of the way winding through the rice fields to our accommodation.

We marched up the street and found one group of Ogah Ogah's lined up with many groups attired in matching uniforms of sorts, eagerly banging drums and anything else that made noise, singing and dancing with excitement while children sat amongst the bamboo frames that had the giant Ogah Ogah's strapped into place, ready for their own parade to commence and wind through the little streets to who knows where.

Young boys eagerly await the start of the procession

Parading the giant effigies through the local village during Nyepi

We are invited to participate in this parade but it's not the village we had planned on being but the next village along so reluctantly we wave goodbye and head on back to Tengkulak.

 Here we find that Bali time is again ticking over ever so slowly and the only thing going on here is a little drinking party with the local youths who become quite vocal when they see us meandering along their little street which results in them inviting us to their little gathering, we decline of course and continue along observing only children the mandatory skinny dogs and a couple of older folk sitting idly by obviously waiting also for some sign of activity.......ah well the Ogah Ogah is still sitting in all it's glory at the temple so if we hang around here, eventually we'll see some action.

Temple Dancers during Ogah Ogah Ceremony

Temple Dancer at Ogah Ogah Ceremony

Meanwhile a group of young dancers spill out from one of the houses and we are treated to a most spectacular display, so beautiful in their vivid and elaborate costumes adorned with gold and magenta and their beauty is something else.

In due course as if by some unseen or unheard of signal people start appearing from behind the high walls of their homes along the village, the priests arrive and incense and offerings are placed at the feet of the Ogah Ogah and the boys who only a little earlier seemed to be in party mode started turning up with their uniform for the event, Bintang Singlets no less!....quite appropriate considering their earlier activities.

Excited children are running about, idling by and then making cheeky faces at us before rushing off as if they've just completed some courageous feat....like the Native Americans counting coup!
An elderly grandmother comes along, resplendent in her beautiful lacy top and sits within inches of me, there's lots of other room about but for some reason she wants to sit with me...she grins a toothy grin at me and I speak to her but or course she has no English and so we sit, silently and with equal anticipation I expect of the biggest event in the Balinese new year, Nyepi.

The detail is incredible in all of these Ogah Ogah statues

Before long, with much yelling from the party boys, and much banging of gongs, drums and numerous other instruments the Ogah Ogah is hoisted into the air aloft his bamboo platform...now this is going to be interesting as this effigy is absolutely enormous and towers way above the power lines which are strung back and forth across the little roadway where this Ogah Ogah is going to make his journey right up to the top and then all the way back down. Then I realise why there is a guy up front with an equally long length of bamboo with a forked end, wrapped in what appears to be some sort of cloth...yep he's going to lift those electrical wires dozens of times so that the Ogah Ogah can pass through. As so it comes to pass that with a lot of yelling of what I can only assume to be 'encouragement' the 'electricity guardian' does his job and despite my trepidation and fear that someone would be electrified in a huge shower of sparks, all goes to plan without a hitch...well that is if you don't count the whole procession grinding to a halt every few metres or so to enable the  wires to be lifted.

Hoisting the electicity lines so that the giant Ogah Ogah can pass through safely!

Once up and running all of the village folk follow along behind chatting and laughing and occasionally having the need to run for cover, scrambling over little gutters along the side of the roads, looking for a safe place to take cover as the boys carrying the Ogah Ogah seem to get a wobbly up and veer this way and that, intentionally or not I dont' know but I myself had to run for my life or be trampled in the excitement and mayhem on more than one occasion. This in itself was a great source of amusement for many of the local villagers, oh now I get it, perhaps we were the target for a little frivolity :)

All the while the noise flowed in waves form the musicians, the barking dogs, and shouting of what I can only assume to be directions for the Ogah Ogah or maybe it was another of the tactics to frighten off those evil spirits.

A couple of jovial guys spent the entire night blasting off fireworks of sorts from some huge bamboo tube with a little hole in it that they plugged with gunpowder and set alight...talk about workplace health and safety, NOT!  Anyway they were right in there amongst the masses of people and if you were in close proximity to them you could feel the heat from the force of the explosion rushing past you, not to mention the noise which was deafening. My friend and I tried always to be aware of where they were and to keep behind them or at least keep them within our sighs but it wasn't easy at times with the excitement of the night. At least I'm sure those pesky evil spirits would have been given short shift for sure.

Firecracker, local style...more like dynamite!

So with all the bad influences well and truly scared off, the Ogah Ogah having made it's journey up and back down the street, darkness was now upon us. The flaming bamboo torches that lit the night sky like something our of medieval times made this a mesmerizing night and one that I will never forget. I feel so privileged to be a part of this event where the giant, fantastic Ogah Ogah monsters that symbolize the evil spirits surrounding the environment and which have to be gotten rid of, did their job and hopefully this extravagant parade enabled this village to prosper once more in the coming year.

On the way to a temple performance in the local village

Another performer in the local village performance