Ogah-Ogah, Bali /June 28, 2012 by Alastair Wiper

The Ogah-Ogah of Bali. Young people in Bali spend months building these paper mache monsters that represent the evil spirits that live on the island. On the night before Nyepi (Balinese new year), the Ogah-Ogah are paraded through the streets and the whole island comes out to see. Then, the next day, nobody - and I mean nobody (they even have special police going round to check) - is allowed out of their house, to use electricity or light, work or cook - some families even prohibit speaking for the day. Supposedly, this is so that the evil spirits think there is no-one left on Bali, so they go somewhere else to bother people.

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