It’s been more than two years since Covid-19 pandemic brought chaos into our world and then just like that, in response almost all countries put international flight restriction for their citizens to slow down virus breakout. This indirectly caused a domino effect especially for travel industries like airlines closed down, travel agencies crashing down and as you can guess it also affect Bali The Island Of Gods in the worst possible way you can imagine. It’s not a secret that Bali Island economy is still greatly depend on travel industries for more than 30 years and Covid-19 pandemic really put Bali economy bellow the red line for 2 years straight. In fact catastrophic event like this is much worse than the aftermath effect of 2002 Legian Bali bombings which only stall Bali economy for around six months.
Since first Covid-19 case came into Indonesia in early 2020, the government have been working really hard to mitigate the virus and put an end of this pandemic. At first, the Indonesia government strategy was to implement lockdown and then large scale social restriction afterward for quite some times. Along the way, free vaccination programs were issued for million of citizens while government also hand out some cash simultaneously to help unemployed people that badly affected by this economy downturn. But now fast forward into 2022, will we able to avert Covid-19 disaster by the end of this year ?, can we finally see light at the end of dark tunnel ?, keep reading and we will see the most up to date condition in Bali shortly.
Unlike previous years, Balinese finally able to commence their most important tradition for Nyepi in 2022, this beloved tradition is called Ogoh – Ogoh Parade. For your information Ogoh – Ogoh Parade in 2020 and 2021 were forbidden due to lockdown and social restrictions, because of this many people were very upset at that time. Fortunately in 2022 that restriction was completely lifted and Balinese people rejoice especially the youth. It was announced at the end of December 2021 so the STT (Seeka Teruna Teruni / The Youth Organization) from each “Banjar” have very little times to build and polish their Ogoh – Ogoh, this could become a challenge especially for Banjar with just few STT members. For those who don’t know Banjar, it mean “Neighborhood” in English and this organization officially acts as the smallest form of local government in Bali.
Without further ado, the challenge of making Ogoh – Ogoh during difficulty was accepted since everyone is in high spirit. Then near the end of February, some STT even able to made and finish Ogoh – Ogoh that have quite huge size. This is a remarkable achievement since large Ogoh – Ogoh is very hard and take a long time to built, but with just slightly less than 2 months they able to finish it successfully. Bigger Ogoh – Ogoh also need larger ornaments and more time to polish perfectly, the STT groups who able to pull it off are definitely the best among the best. During pre-pandemic period of Nyepi, most regencies in Bali always held a yearly Ogoh – Ogoh contest but unfortunately the contest for this year can’t be realized just yet, well at least for now. Hopefully everything will come back to normal next year and Bali should be able to complete the usual Nyepi routine or tradition.
Gallery
One day before the actual Nyepi is called “Pengerupukan”, this is the day where all Ogoh – Ogoh in Bali are lifted together by STT members from each Banjar. The Ogoh – Ogoh Parade will start around afternoon and then last until night, usually it end at 10.00 PM. The parade starting point is assigned beforehand by the village chief, so for those who want to view Ogoh – Ogoh Parade could standby near the street around that assigned start point. Compared to 2019, most STT in 2022 made smaller Ogoh – Ogoh than usual because they have not enough times and budget to build it, thanks to still ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. But there always an exception, for example Banjar Gemeh and Tain Siat in Denpasar were able to finish a great Ogoh – Ogoh as usual. Those Banjar are widely known as among the best Ogoh – Ogoh maker in Bali, they never compromise and always pushing the limit each year. If you kind of curious, I recommend you to image search their Ogoh -Ogoh in Google or Bing.
Eventually Ogoh – Ogoh will start moving from street to street around the village, it need strength of several young man in order to move such big object. The Ogoh – Ogoh lifters group will shed a tons of sweats during street parade because sometimes they need to run, spin, shaking and shouting out loud while moving on the street. Those actions are done to enhance the attractions, also to raise the spirit of own crew and nearby viewers. To maintain energy and prevent dehydration, water bottles are usually distributed by STT female members to all lifters while still moving the Ogoh – Ogoh on street. Then after 90 minutes, Ogoh – Ogoh crew should have arrived by now at field or place with large space and this is where the final attractions about to take place soon.
But first of all, Ogoh – Ogoh crew need to take some rest before performing the next show, this on stage performance will be very exhausting thus replenishing energy is very important for them. Resting usually take around 40 minutes and then the next action is to unleash final show which need 2 months of training. Ogoh -Ogoh on stage performance will be watched by hundreds or in some case even thousand of watchers, so it’s important to deliver the best possible Ogoh – Ogoh show since Banjar and STT pride is at stake here. This on stage performance is telling the viewers about story of Ogoh – Ogoh itself and it was adopted from frightening mythological creatures in Hindu or Balinese folklores. In order to immersed the viewers with Ogoh – Ogoh story, the show will be enhanced with Balinese dance and traditional musical band.
The Ogoh – Ogoh attraction is the total culmination of Banjar STT efforts during this past few months. At first planning phase, Ogoh – Ogoh crew were split into 3 main groups and the first one is builder group, obviously just like the name suggest their main task is to build Ogoh -Ogoh as good as possible. The crew then splits into another 2 groups, “Igelan” Group and “Gong” Group, both groups had to diligently trains for months in order to deliver perfect performance at Ogoh – Ogoh attraction during Pengerupukan day. Igelan mean “Dance” meanwhile Gong is Bali traditional music Instrument name, so in other words both groups above are in charge of musical instrument and dancing choreography. Few days before the Pengerupukan, all STT crew must undergo performance rehearsal at night to make sure every groups within STT well prepared before the actual parade take place few days later.
Even the famous Legian widely known for it’s nightlife leisure, can’t escape unfortunate aftermath of Covid-19 travel restriction. This on going pandemic transformed Legian into a lifeless quiet town that fallen from their past glory, a rather sad outcome. Legian was once nicknamed as The Las Vegas of Bali, a place brimming with life especially after sunset comes. For now, Legian area are much more active at noon or daylight, during this time you can see more people are walking around and many shops are open, although it still pale in comparison to Pre-Covid days obviously. News around the globe are saying that pandemic might be over in 2022, if true then international travels will open once again and I am pretty much sure Legian will return to their former glory. Well currently there a waging war between Rusia and Ukraine, so I don’t know whether it will affect international flight or not. War only bring ceaseless suffering and destruction to the innocent, let’s pray for war to end soon because we been longing for world peace and stability to return.
When Covid-19 pandemic was at it’s peak in 2020, Bali government decided to prevent and limit virus transmission by making a checkup or screening post point at every Bali villages border. The people who do it are volunteered from members of local village groups such as Banjar, STT, Pecalang, Karang Taruna, Hansip and Pamong Praja. Every 4 or 6 hours, volunteers must take turn guarding village border post to prevent the person in charge from boredom and losing focus. The screening process was done for those who want to enter the village, first by asking them whether they currently sick, their illness history and then do a body temperature checkup on them. If someone deemed sick, by procedure that person can’t be allowed to pass into border and suggested to quickly visit doctor or rest in home. Big vehicles like car, pickup car and truck must be sprayed with disinfectant by volunteers in charge before they can enter the village.