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The victory of duo, Mangku Pastika and Puspayoga in governor election of Bali, not just give the island of Bali new leaders but also, for the first time, Balinese who had been lived outside Bali has a chance to lead Bali. Yes Made Mangku Pastika is a Balinese that joined transmigration program and relocated outside Bali, and now after years of living outside the home island he come back to lead Bali.
The Bali way of Reducing Green House Gas Emission By Doing Nothing
December 2007
During the opening of the 13th session of the Conference of Parties to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a very brief film ”Nyepi (Silent) Day for the Earth” was screened. This film, made by the Bali Collaboration on Climate Change, illustrates the situation in Bali during Nyepi the Day of Silence observed for 24 hours, once a year in Bali during the Saka New Year. All activities cease during that day.
People have asked the question how can an entire island cease activities, light only minimum lights and everyone stay home? This paper provides a background information on this old practice, within the context of reducing green house gas (GHG) emission.
In the opening of United Nation Climate Change Conference (UNCCC), Nyepi day was proposed to be world day in order to minimize the carbon dioxide ratio in the air. It is stated in local Balinese media that the world need silence for a while and Nyepi, the celebration of Caka Lunar Calendar in Bali, will be applied to fulfill the necessity.
In fact, the philosophy of Nyepi day itself does not have any correlation to the nature conservation. It is just a New Year celebration which is conducted by doing nothing and without any big party. Yes, this is a unique thing of the Balinese in celebrating their New Year while the other New Year celebrations are carried out with a lot of food, drinks, joy, and always in crowd situation but the Balinese consider the New Year day as a good chance to purify the senses and get closer to God to have a better life on the new day. Coincidentally this way of custom gives the nature chance to breath.
The existence of Caka Lunar Calendar was the basis history that ended the hostilities among Indian tribes. They were Pahlawa, Yuehchi, Yuwana, Malawa, and Caka. They were fighting each other to have power. The Cakas were tired with this condition, so they changed their way of struggle not to defeat for power but for culture and prosperity.
125 BC the Kushana Dynasty from Yuehchi run India and was touched by the Caka’s effort, so the Kushana decided not to defeat the other tribes but it is used to tug all tribes in India by collecting every culture and put it as part of the palace culture. In year 79 AC, King Kaniska I from Kushana Dynasty and Yuehchi let the Caka Lunar Calendar system as the palace calendar. And on that day the tolerance among the Indian tribes arose. Due to the tolerance and unity, the Caka Lunar Calender System expanded through the spreading of Hindu.
In Indonesia, the Caka Lunar Calendar had been extended in the 4th century as the Hindu expansion. It was brought by Aji Caka, a priest of Caka Tribe from Kshatrapa Gujarat (India).
In Bali, the celebration of Caka Lunar Calendar is celebrated annually by doing Nyepi which means sepi (silent) on March or early of April. It is based on Lontar Sundarigama and Sanghyang Aji Swamandala (Hindu’s manuscript). The philosophy of Nyepi itself is to control our senses through catur brata penyepian (four ways to control ourselves); amati geni (to turn off the fire – the fire of anger, fire of passion), amati karya (not doing any work/activity except focusing on God), amati lelungan (not going anywhere), and amati lelanguan (far from the worldly pleasure). So, what is the correlation between the philosophy of Nyepi and the environment preservation?
On Monday night (11/19/07), my village summon the village protecting deities, a Barong which is named Ratu Ngurah Sakti and a Rangda which is revered as Ratu Istri to protect the village and all its inhabitants from the annual invasion of the king of demons, Ratu Gede Nusa and his army which spread plague and pestilence all over the island of Bali especially the south west coast of Bali. Monday (11/19/07) was chosen to be the time of summoning ritual since that day was a kajeng kliwon, an auspicious day which is believed to be full of magical power and it is occurred on the sixth month of Caka year (Kaenem), the month which is believed to be the month of invasion, the month of pestilence (this year Kaenem starts on 11/10/07 and last until 12/9/07).
The main ritual began around midnight; the protecting deities, ratu Ngurah Sakti and Ratu Istri were escorted to the main crossroad of the village. The deities stood on the center of the crossroad and given special offerings, a chicken was sacrificed for the deities. The main crossroad of the village was chosen to be the venue of ceremony since main crossroad in any Balinese village is the center of the village, the central point for community activities and ceremonial events. The crossroad is an open space where the four cardinal points meet and considered to have an extraordinary magical power as well as a strategic point to release the magical power of the deities to four cardinal points.
Constellation of star is believed to influence on the character of a person who is born under it. Zodiac plays important role in western civilization in predicting someone character and talent while in Bali it is the month of Caka lunar is used for similar purpose. Each month in Caka lunar calendar is believed to have its own effect on the character of a person who is born in a certain month. Here is some short explanations of the character of the person based on the Caka month.
A person who is born in the first month of Caka Lunar year (Kasa) which is usually starts on June 23rd and end up on August 1st will have strong compassion toward others and good behavior.
Reckless, clumsy, or thoughtless is the characteristic of the person who is born in the second month of Caka Lunar year (Karo) which starts on August 2nd up to August 24th.
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