For Balinese, celebrating the New Year on January 1st is
an imported Western tradition. Nonetheless, most Balinese
still recognise and celebrate it. The build up to New Year’s
Eve normally starts about two weeks before, when you can see
many main streets lined with sellers on bicycles piled up
high with hundreds of colourful trumpets. Shops, too, feature
sales, and thousands of people flock to the department stores
to snatch up bargains on clothes and other commodities.
New Years Eve itself is a crowded and lively occasion, and
the streets are jam-packed with motorbikes and cars. The air
is filled with the sounds of people blowing on noisy trumpets.
It is a real family time and is not uncommon to see mum, dad
and the kids (all blowing trumpets, of course) squashed up
on one motorbike. Like in the West, many people visit family
and hang out with friends. The most crowded areas in Bali
are the tourist strips and the city streets, in particular
Puputan Square. Most elderly people stay at home with their
families and leave the celebrating to the young ones. Usually,
only teenage boys and men like to drink alcohol, and compared
with the West there is no real drinking culture.
Because the Balinese world revolves around a different calendar
system, important ceremonies may fall on the Roman calendar
New Year’s Eve. For example, a temple festival may run
for several days over the New Year period. This means for
many New Year is not celebrated. The one time when all Balinese
celebrate New Year is sometime either in March or April. The
Balinese New Year is called Nyepi and is a day when the entire
island falls into total silence. Other Balinese who are not
Hindus might celebrate the Islamic New Year or the Chinese
Buddhist New Year, depending on their religious beliefs.
Copyright@ Kulture Kid 2006
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