BALI, INDONESIA, April 3, 2020 (Coconuts): The phrase “Bali tak pernah sepi dari suara upacara,” which loosely translates as “Bali is never silent from the sounds of ceremonies,” was once used to describe the island’s constant ceremonial life. Even on Nyepi, the most sacred day in the Balinese Saka calendar, the silence resulting from the island-wide shutdown affirms the perpetual rhythm of Balinese Hindu rituals. As COVID-19 has changed the way we can safely physically interact, restrictions on ceremonies are a challenging new reality for Bali’s 93 percent Hindu population.
On March 20, five days after President Joko Widodo advised the nation to “work from home, study from home, [and] pray from home,” Bali Governor Wayan Koster limited attendance at Melasti, a major purification ritual, to 25 people per village. Not since the 1963 eruption of Mount Agung, which killed between 1,000 and 1,500 people, had ceremony attendance numbers been restricted. Koster also prohibited the parading of all Ogoh-ogoh for Pengrupukan, the purpose of which is to scare away the spirits of the underworld on the night before Nyepi. Although the parade has been postponed until August, some Ogoh-ogoh were abandoned mid-construction. The Ogoh-ogoh parade is one of Bali’s biggest Hindu festivals.
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