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Space-Clearing: Discover The Rituals of Bali's Space-Clearing Ceremony "Nyepi"

By Amy C.

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 29Jan2010 Word count: 412 Viewed: 382 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Nyepi is the famous space-clearing ceremony that takes place in Bali every year. Space clearing is the branch of feng shui that deals with energy, its movement, and its effects on our day-to-day lives. Nyepi marks off the beginning of New Year in Bali. Children set off the fire-crackers as an attempt to scare away the demons and evil spirits. Parades of hand-crafted demon sculptures are carried out on the night before the new years. These artificial paper-made demons are called ogoh-ogoh. They are carried on the streets using bamboo frames.

After a grand ceremony, these paper made demons are offered food and then set to fire on the crossroads. Balinese believe that the intersections at the cross roads are the congregation places of evil spirits, which according to them, is why accidents commonly happen on the cross-roads. They believe that by offering these effigies the food and setting them to fire, the evil spirits are placated and the cross-roads are purified.

On the day of Nyepi, everything comes to a stand-still in Bali. Nobody is allowed to go on roads. No vehicles are allowed to be operated, and no form of transportation is allowed either. Only the essential services are in operation on this sacred day. In addition, no lights are lighted, no equipments are operated, and no one is allowed to work. All the electricity supplies are turned off to enforce the law. Everything, all communication, comes to complete stop on this day.

This one day is considered to be the day of contemplation and relaxation. It is the time for dwelling on what you want in your life for the coming year. Most of the people simply relax to mull over the past year, contemplating what they want in the next year.

There is much to be learned from this one ceremony. This one-day ritual is supposed to perform space clearing for the people of Bali and offer them a complete break from their day to day activities. Richness of spirit and deepness of soul is reflected from them after the sacred day. Bali has one of the biggest spiritual cultures of all the Asian countries. Bali is truly the heaven within our earth and is the purification center of universe. There is much to be learned from the ancient wisdom and spiritual practices of Balinese culture. Our qualities of life can be immensely improved by integrating some of the Balinese spiritual practices in our day to day life.

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