Nyepi or Happy New Year|Shut Up!
Posted on March 7, 2008
This year, Nyepi falls on March 7th according to our Balinese calendar (March 8th according to Microsoft Outlook… I guess that calendar sharing thing still has a few glitches).
Just in case you’re not familiar with the holiday, here’s what you need to know.
Pronunciation
Nyuh-pee.
Consequence
Sorry, the island is closed today (March 7th, 2008).
Please try again tomorrow.
Background on the Nyepi Holiday
The whole Nyepi thing can be a little confusing (I’m still confused about it after all this time) and while there’s plenty of information online, it can, at times seem a little contradictory — here is a little of what you might find:
It’s a Lunar Holiday or it’s the Saka/Caka/Sashi New Year:
There are 3 calendars commonly used in Bali: Gregorian (European calendary, 365 or 366 days, 12 months, 52 weeks and a few glaring errors); Pawukon (a Bali-only calendar, 210 days, 10 weeks running concurrently) and the Saka, Caka or Sashi calendar which is a 420 day long lunar calendar (first day of every month follows a full moon).
In Bali, Nyepi falls on the first day of the Caka New Year and, this year, that means March 7th will be Saka New Year’s day, 1930.
Nyepi is a Solar Holiday (or the Spring Equinox):
This is probably the most confusing thing for me… I mean:
- If Nyepi is a lunar holiday, how can it be a solar holiday?
- How can Nyepi be a celebration of the Spring Equinox if we only have two seasons here; wet & dry?
- Isn’t the whole concept of Spring Equinox a pagan thing?
I don’t have answers for these questions… but no-one I know thinks of Nyepi as a Spring anything.
Nyepi is the Hindu/Dharma New Year:
The Saka calendar is a (Bali) Hindu calendar and thus yes, Nyepi is a Hindu New Year Celebration.
Fun for all the family:
Nyepi is fascinating to me and one or two other people because it’s a day of silence.
Let me clarify that:
As far as I know (going by what I’ve been told and what I’ve experienced), Nyepi will begin at dawn (6:00 AM) March 7th and go until dawn March 8th, the following day.
During that time, we’re not supposed to the following things:
- Amati Geni: No fire/light (= no electrical appliances or engines or lighting cigarettes)
- Amati Karya: No working (= no cooking or anything)
- Amati Lelunganan: No travelling (=not allowed out)
- Amati Lelanguan: No eating (Fasting)
I’ve read that in Bali, only Balinese must observe Nyepi but visitors (ex-pats, non-Balinese Indonesians, non-Hindu Balinese and tourists) also observe Nyepi out of respect.
This is not entirely true — or has never been true for me: the day is in fact enforced (if I can use that word) by the local communities; if you’re here, you have no choice but to observe. Your options are to stay at whichever hotels have purchased limited exceptions for themselves or to go to Lombok or any other island.
To help keep people on the straight and narrow, members of the community participate in policing the local villages as Pecalang — basically, guys walking around with flashlights shouting at you if they see you watching tv or whatever. If you go away for the weekend and forget to switch off any automatic lighting, you’ll find the bulbs carefully removed or, more amusing, smashed by the time you return.
A Wonderful Tradition & a Jolly Good Idea:
I’ve read on a few sites that Nyepi is an old, established tradition of Balinese Hindus — as far as I know, that’s not so: the observance of silence and the 4 Amatis outlined above were put in place relatively recently by people high up in the Bali government or administration.
I wish I knew who and when but, so sorry, I don’t.
I’m guessing, however, it only goes back to the 1980s or 70s — if anyone knows for sure, don’t be afraid to enlighten me.
Anyhoo, there’s a lot of talk around the web of what a great, awesome, spiritual, lovely, heartwarming, unique, brilliant, eco-friendly type of day it is.
Can’t say I agree wholeheartedly.
Here’s my take on it:
Personally, I enjoy Nyepi. It’s great to have an excuse to not answer the phone. Or go shopping. Or do anything much. For example, I won’t be cutting the grass on Nyepi. Excellent. Or driving down to the shop. Or walking to the shop. Brilliant.
I will sit out in the garden and listen to the cows, dogs, geese and so on.
I will light fires (I smoke).
I will make coffee (otherwise, no waking up).
The Air Conditioning will be running.
The TV will be on
There will be a few lights on this evening (hopefully where no-one from the neighbourhood will catch on)..
What I don’t like about Nyepi is that there’s no choice.
Everything shuts. There are small groups of local security patrolling the area and knocking on doors and shouting at people if they have a light on or whatever.
If Bali had set aside a day where you could, if you wanted, sit inside (or outside) and contemplate your navel; a time when shops had to close (no commerce) but not major infrastructure establishments like Hospitals, Fire Stations, Police and so on… I think I’d be all for it.
As it is, I shall join most Balinese by celebrating the day quietly — a nod to the authorities in terms of covered windows, low lights, volume down on the tv but inside I”ll be enjoying re-runs of the Premier League; having a nice hot meal and doing some webwork.
Ah, tricks learnt during a dictatorship that continue to pay dividends long after Ozymandius is gone and his mighty works turned to dust.
Sean
Some Links for you:
Bali Nyepi Info
Nyepi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/24/opinion/edhogue.php
Indian Hindu Info:
http://www.bjp.org/today/may_0103/may_2_p_19.htm
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No news today.
Posted on February 20, 2008
Waiting slightly nervously for a visit with the doctor tonight as the preamble to a battery of tests tomorrow.
Given that Athina’s already 7 and a bit weeks in (7 weeks & 4 days today), we missed all the early tests completely and now have to go back and check blood, virii, and so on… luckily I clipped my nails last night so have nothing to nibble on.
Weight today (not mine; Athina’s) 100 pounds exactly or a hair over 45 kilos.
By the way, if you have no idea what the hell I’m talking about… click here.
Sean
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Hello Baby
Posted on February 18, 2008
Athina & I shot this video yesterday (uploaded to GoogleVideo):
If you’re a complete masochist and need more fuel for your self-inflicting pain fantasies, you can download the Windows Media format file here:
http://www.indonesiaexport.com/video/thefinalcut.wmv
Or the MPG here:
http://www.indonesiaexport.com/video/thefinalcut.mp4
Both files are around 4 megs.
Sean
» Filed Under Products | 1 Comment
Sean Hynes
Posted on January 30, 2008
One of the wonderful (truly wonderful) features of the new Wordpress is that you can export / import the whole blog so, rather than spend a day or two copying articles back and forth between here and Bali Belly, I’ve been able to get Sean Hynes up to speed in 5 minutes flat.
If anyone’s following this stuff (and judging from the barrage of junk and spam, I’m only being seen by robots), SeanHynes.com is my own little vanity site — a place for me to lay out the daily stuff on a personal level.
There’s not a lot of new info here (as I write); most of the content being a copy of articles originally hosted on Bali Belly. The Bali Belly site will now be used to separate off topics related to normal, daily life here in Indonesia.
If you have any questions, or even just want to say, “Hi”, drop me a line at info@seanhynes.com — I’ll answer when I have a moment.
Sean
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Bali Belly Upgrade in Process… please bear with me.
Posted on January 7, 2008
I’ve just updated Bali-Belly.com to WordPress 2.3 (2) and it went very smoothly (possibly too smoothly — now I’m sitting around waiting for my ceiling too explode).
Along with the upgrade, I’ll be making some changes to this site over the next week or so. Bali-Belly was originally a place for me to work out feelings about my motorbike crash — I called it Bali Belly because a part of my stomach will always be here (spleen to be precise).
The plan for 2008 will see a few changes around here as I start broadening this blog to be more about my life in Bali on a day-to-day basis (yes, I think it’s time to start putting the crash behind me). Eventually, I’ll move all the motorbike and old personal articles into seanhynes.com (how’s that for a vanity piece?).
More about that when the personal site goes live.
Anyhoo, if you have a problem finding something or run into any problems at all on Bali-Belly.com, let me know and I’ll try to help.
Enjoy,
Sean
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Drive-by Downloads and other stuff
Posted on August 30, 2007
Got my computer ballsed up yesterday with a Trojan — kept bouncing me off to a website selling antivirus software… gah.
Spam mail is one thing, I can understand how people might be tempted to buy something. Particularly if they have’re having a problem getting an erection.
Likewise the “Dear Sir, I’m a Banker in Nairobi with 400,000,000 dollars for you” scams. I can understand how someone might be taken in. Hoodwinked. Conned. Taken for a ride. Most people are happy to get silly and dirty for money… if not, Fear Factor wouldn’t have been such a hit.
Nice, by the way, how they give you the US$400,000,000 number and then write it out longhand. Neat.
And I certainly like being “esteemed” several times in the morning before emptying my trash.
But who on earth is going to buy an antivirus program from a company that gives you a virus/trojan to take your browser automatically to their website?
Somebody will, I know.
So, I got my computer ballsed up with this trojan thingie and spent a good couple of hours searching for fixes and so on to remove it. Not easy but eventually done.
And while I was trolling through the forums for info and advice, it struck me how many people are wading through the same crap. There’s a lot of unhappy puppies out there with viruses (virii?) and trojans.
Then I see in today’s news on PC Magazine that “Symantec’s New Norton Products Hit the Streets”.
Firstly, I don’t like the headline. There’s nothing streetwise or dynamic about Norton. Since day one, they’ve turned every half-decent computer I’ve had into a slow, sludgy mire.
They never hit the streets. They strolled. Hands in their pockets. Damn, they probably whistled.
Second or third paragraph of the article talks about “drive-by downloads”.
What the hell is that?
A drive by download? What will have next? Pimps & Hookers? Maybe they should rename “Phishing Scams” to Pimps & Hookers. Seems appropriate. Phishing was a stupid name anyway.
Back to Norton… I wonder how these guys are still around?
Back in the day (I’m not sure but it might have be a Tuesday), hacks and suchlike were fairly rare.
On the few occasions I was hacked, I worried I’d lose everything… data, video card, hard drive, my identity… never happened of course but on those few occasions, I did use Norton… it almost never got the job done. In fact, the few times I’ve used it, it always slowed my computer down more than the damn virus. Norton is a virus. A big, buggy, crappy virus.
Has anything changed?
I don’t think so.
A question: why are Microsoft Users (I’m one) still dealing with 3rd Party vendors for antivirus?
I can understand why they went for the browser market and put out a free browser… kind of. Well, not really.
I can understand going for the media player market and putting out a media player… that’s free. Yeah. Well, not really.
And all the other stuff they do.
But wouldn’t it make more sense to corner the international antivirus market? I mean, isn’t security the whole point behind Vista?
Strange.
In other news, “Microsoft Unleashes Vista Service Pack Details”… unleashed? Who writes this crap?
One other turn of phrase in the same article that made me grimace: the service pack “will be available in three forms: express, stand-alone, and slipstream”… SLIPSTREAM?
I guess, like most people, I don’t want to think about viruses or trojans or drive-by downloads, hijacks, hoaxes, scams, phishers, pimps or hookers. I want to switch on my computer, do my work, turn it off and go home. Maybe play a game from time to time. Or browse the net.
I don’t want to think about them, talk about them or marvel at the funky new names some pudwhacking spin doctor has come up with in order to try and make the subject sound even a little more interesting than drying paint.
I don’t want anything unleashed and I’m certainly not looking for anything or anyone to hit the streets. Not on my behalf.
And, as for Norton, here we are entering the era of the US$100.00 (one hundred dollars) laptop and these yoyos and bozos are charging US$90 (ninety dollars) for virus protection.
Good grief.
Sean
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Bamboo Furniture — a preview of things to come on Indonesia Export
Posted on October 18, 2006
This is a copy of a post from Indonesia Export — if it’s of any interest, head over to the original piece for more details:
” Today, we’re working on our Bamboo Furniture line — if you’ve been with us a while, you might remember we used to offer this product a while back — in fact, bamboo furniture was Indonesia Export’s first ever line… we haven’t sold it for about 8 or 9 years — maybe more — we originally stopped because of problems with mould, quality control and increasingly complex fumigation procedures…”
Click here to visit the page directly:
http://indonesiaexport.com/wordpress/2006/10/18/ba…
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New ways to contact us — Skype Me!
Posted on October 17, 2006
I’ve not yet been able to watch a bandwagon roll past me without at least trying to jump on it and, so, here I go again — late again: Skype.
Now, if you’re in the US or the UK, you can call me cheaply at the US or UK telephone number or, even more cheaply, skype direct to my laptop (it’s almost always switched on and in front of me).
Here’s everything you need to know about dropping me a line:
Indonesia Export
Office & Warehouse
Jl. Bypass Ngurah Rai 654
Bali, Indonesia 80223
Email: info@beads-bali.com
Skype: sean_hynes
Indonesia (+62) Tel. (361) 721-575 – Fax. (361) 720-889
USA (+1) Tel. (201) 467-5570
UK (+44) Tel. (0131) 208-1282
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New content added to beads-bali.com
Posted on October 8, 2006
In case you missed the announcement, Beads-Bali.com is now live — here’s one of the introductory FAQ articles, let me know what you think.
[taken from http://www.beads-bali.com/wordpress/who-are-you-re…]
Who are you really?
We’re Beads Bali (well, you already know that).
The company, at this time, is made up of myself (Sean), my wife Athina and a group of local silver smiths and bead makers. There is also my wife’s puppy, Jolie, and my black lab, Mojo.
We live here in Bali, fairly close to the beach (I can see it from my window as I type this).
I’m fairly new to the beading business but I’ve been working professionally in Bali for the last ten years (or more) exporting handicrafts and furniture around the world with Indonesia Export.
My background is London-Irish (ethnic, not the rugby team although I did manage a short stint there while I was a kid). 
Athina is originally from Solo on the island of Java – that’s very close to the recent earthquake and volcano if you caught any of that on the news.
The idea for making a specialist department to handle bead supplies and exports out of Bali was Athina’s – she believes that although the market is very competitive, there are actually only a few decent, ethical suppliers out there doing business and even less of those are based here on Bali with the resources that we have.
Athina is the one to talk to about new designs, sourcing beads and all of the creative, hard work. She is also the only member on the team with any concept of taste or fashion. Really.
I deal mostly with communication, logistics and being mean to people when they show up at our warehouse with lousy products. I do this very well.
You could say that Athina walks softly while I carry the big stick.
If you want to know any personal information about us, you can check out are blogs:
http://www.katakoe.com — Athina’s website — partly in English.
http://www.bali-belly.com — my website.
Or, you could email us at info@beads-bali.com
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Bali Beads - An Introduction (and a small rant)
Posted on October 7, 2006
Up until about five minutes ago, I thought I understood the meaning of “Bali Bead”…
… I was wrong (sigh).
I had thought, silly me… SOOOO naive… that a Bali bead was a bead made in Bali. Apparently not.
According to one article:
“Bali beads originated in India. The Indians taught the Balinese how to make the beads. The majority of Bali beads today are still made in India. Some people differentiate between Bali and Bali Style beads. Bali style beads are made the same way as Bali beads, but do not come from Bali - instead they come from India.”
It’s the overall tone of the article that bugs me – The Indians taught the Balinese how to make the beads… you’d figure “the Indians” might have called them Indian beads, wouldn’t ya?
More importantly, for me (and I admit, I’m a little funny about stuff like this) the article seems to miss the point somewhat:
It’s true, of course, that Indian culture and religion has played a very large role in the development of this little island culture.
The Hindu religion and culture arrived in Indonesia about 2,000 years ago – probably by Indian traders from Gujerati who were attracted to the islands by their riches in gold, spices, and sandalwood. And why not? That’s exactly the way Islam & Christianity also arrived here… trade.
Indian script has been found in Indonesia dating back to the 5th Century and shows that there were several Indian-style Kingdoms in West Java and Borneo.
Today, you can still see the remains of ancient monasteries and temples in Bali. In these places, the Balinese prices were consecrated into the Indic family tree as god-kings. Balinese script, which many Balinese kids still have to learn, is derived from the Palava script of South India.
Now, I’m no expert on Bali or Balinese history – I’m just reading from other (hopefully more learned sources) but it seems to me that a person saying, “the Indians” taught the Balinese to make beads is kind of like saying the Romans taught Americans how to make bridges and buildings. So, really, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Empire State are Italian but we call it American… maybe they’re Greek.
Let me put it this way: the Balinese have been working stone, wood and metal since the Early Metal and Bronze eras… BC, in other words. Between then and now, they’ve had just about every foreign influence you can point to or shake a stick at: Indian, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, Japanese, Malay. In other words, just like America, England or Ireland, many foreign feet have left impressions in the sand.
In no way at all does that mean that a Bali bead is really an Indian bead (or vice versa).
For our Bali beads, which are all made in Bali (natch), wood, glass and .925 sterling silver are the most common materials.
Like any handicraft in Bali, the beads are really made by hand… really. There’s no industrial process, no huge factory spitting out beads by the million.
The handicraft industry as I know it has always been a cottage industry.
On one level, that means the beads differ very slightly – it could be a bad thing but I find the concept of a unique article to be charming.
We buy our beads at prices that are a combination of silver weight in grams (material) and workmanship – that means certain items are more expensive just because more work goes into them… I’ve been purchasing in Bali on that system with beads, statues and furnishings for such a long time that it makes total sense to me.
Technorati Tags: beads, bali beads, background on Bali Beads, Silver Bali Beads
Technorati Tags: beads, bali beads, background on Bali Beads, Silver Bali Beads
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