April/May, 1998
No. 034/VI/98
cover story
Ground Breakers
Bali's top corporate
women
Out of the Frying
Pan
The legacy of widow
burning in modern Bali
beyond
bali
Pedal Power
Cycling around Lombok
regular
features
Sidelines
The cultural
value of
Indonesia textiles
Adventure
Off-road trips by Land
Cruiser
Home Grown
Bali's surf hero of
nineties, Rizal Tanjung
Health and Beauty
Mandara's many
Bali
spas
Books
The Butterflies of Bali
Food
Four delis that have
survived the crisis
F.X. Marit captures nyepi
on film
Jungle
Drums
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The ogoh-ogoh parade precedes the
day of silence that marks Balinese New Year. Community youth associations commit much time
and thought to the construction of the ogoh-ogoh, which symbolise Balinese demons, and
parade them before the new year commences in order to cleanse the island of demonic
forces.
The making of the ogoh-ogoh is an opportunity for the Balinese to display their collective spirit, as the ogoh-ogoh are made by neighbourhood youth associations who make appeals to the community for funds to puchase the glue, bamboo and cowhide.
Parades are held all over Bali, but without doubt
the largest and most spectacular is in Denpasar. The ogoh-ogoh are brought out at sunset
and when the accompanying bleganjur music, the most ‘demonic’ of Balinese
gamelan music, strikes up, Denpasar becomes the Rio of the East. The ogoh-ogoh carriers,
who are bound for the Puputan Square in central Denpasar, perform a strange, jerky dance,
surging back and forward or suddenly turning in a circle to give the impression that the
floats are really alive. Because Balinese demons number as many as the gods, the parade
can last up to three to four hours. When all the floats have treached Puputan Square, they
are burnt, and Bali is cleansed for the nyepi, the Day of Silence.
“Be There, Be Square” by Hans Messer.
Photographs by F.X Marit
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