Pandemic Times and Silent Zero

Edition #12: Nyepi, the Day of Silence in Bali

As most of us are working from home with reduced mobility and some of us taking social isolation seriously, we are also likely spending more time with family, reading more, listening to bird calls and rustling leaves, and importantly, having more time to ourselves.

Did you know that the Balinese celebrate a day every year in silence?

Nyepi, the Balinese New Year and observed as a Day of Silence, is one of my favourite traditions from across the world.

Nyepi comes from the word sepi or sipeng which means lonely, quiet, silent, zero, empty, no crowd, no noise, no activity.

On this day, people stay indoors through the day and until the next morning while all public activities come to a halt except emergency services like hospitals. All transportation systems are shut and so are all places of entertainment, offices, etc.

Sounds familiar?

While the rituals are grounded in a concept based in the Vedas, the tradition itself is very unique to Bali. Nyepi follows the Caka calendar, which is a solar-lunar calendar that is believed to have originated from the times of the Saka Dyansty in 78 A.D., under King Kanishka. The Caka calendar, compared to the Pawukon calendar that determines temple and family rites, also rules agricultural spiritual life.

“According to Hindu Balinese religious mathematical calculations, the highest or the last number is nine, and ten is considered to be equal to zero. Thus, the closing of the Caka year falls on the moon or sasih kesanga, and Nyepi (silence) falls on sasih kedasa (zero).”

The equivalent in the Gregorian calendar this year is the 25th of March.

The beauty of this quiet celebration is that there is absolute silence and stillness, and people use the day for self-introspection.

This interesting paper links how Nyepi as a tradition allows for natural sustainability and social harmony while resulting in more visible benefits to modern society, like energy saving.

Major cities around the world are in lockdown and its citizens indoors. We are communicating more digitally, caring for our loved ones and reconnecting with old friends. With hope that this too shall pass, and we all go back to our pre-corona lives, we could use some of these days indoors to appreciate the world we live in and also introspect the life we wish to live after.

If you are a decent whistler, you may also try to master the kuş dili, the whistling bird language from Turkey.