Silence Day In Crowded Cheers

SILENCE DAY IN CROWDED CHEERS

By Ayu Sandiningtias (1006765324)

Silang Monas Jakarta, in the heat of the sun, in the middle of helter-skelter people, among the colourful flags, costumes, and accessories, around the noise of not only cheering people but also the traditional music, and the rowdy vehicles, it felt like ‘silence’ was not the suitable word to describe Silence Day.

The noise came from Ogoh-Ogoh Parade which was held at Silang Monas, Jakarta, on Monday, March 11 2012, one day before Silence Day. Actually, Ogoh-Ogoh Parade was one of the sequences of Silence Day’s celebration. Before this, there was Melasti. The Hindus prepared themselves for Silence Day by cleaning all of the prayer equipments. The cleaning of those equipments represented the cleansing of their soul, preparing themselves to be a more brand-new and better person. Then after that, The Ogoh-Ogoh Parade was held. Generally, this carnival was held in Bali, yet now, it was on Monas, Jakarta. According to Mr. Wayan, the elder of Pura Setia Loka, “Ogoh-Ogoh parade was usually called by Tawur Kesanga or Tawur Agung. It was held in order to clean the world from any disasters or catastrophes. The catastrophes were symbolized by the giant Ogoh-ogohs.” The Ogoh-ogohs were made in monster-look-like shapes. They were like having the long and extendable tongues out, the big, bulging, glaring eyes, and also the threatening expressions. Some of them held weapons on their hands.  Ogoh-ogohs were basically gigantic puppets, made from weaved bamboo. However, at Monas Ogoh-Ogoh Parade, most of the Ogoh-ogoh were made from styrofoam.  “It’s too heavy and expensive to build a bamboo-made Ogoh-ogoh,” a local Ogoh-Ogoh Parade visitor said.

The Ogoh-Ogoh, as the symbol of Bata Kala, the jeopardy of the world, was made in order to be burnt later. It emphasized that the Bata Kala had been vanished from the world and was unable to disturb the peaceful earth. There were about hundreds people there, living up the parade, walking, laughing, taking pictures, even dancing. Although the heat of the sun was inevitable, it felt like, smiles could not be evaporated away from people’s faces. As the Ogoh-ogohs were burnt, they were all cheering.  “We are happy to see the Ogoh-ogoh are burnt. We are so relieved. Even tough we know they are only the symbol of harm, we just believe that God will protect us from Bata Kala,” said Widya, a visitor of Ogoh-Ogoh Parade.

Not only the Ogoh-Ogoh burning which was there, but some of dances also were being the part of Tawur Kesanga. There were a lot of dances, like Pendet Dance, Cendrawasih Dance, and also Rejang Dance. The dances were dominated by colourful costumes, noisy sounds from the Gamelan, and also the applauses “Basically, all of the dances were the presents for God. This is how we say ‘thank you’ and delivers our gratefulness to the earth,” said Cinde, while watching the Rejang Dance, “This dance is dominated by young girls because they are considered as the symbol of gratefulness to God.” Cinde, who is also a Balinese dancer, had her own perspective about Silence Day.

”All people only know that we (the Hindus) are only staying at home, doing nothing while we are celebrating Silence Day. Actually, it is more than that. We go to Pure (the Hindus’ praying building) together with our family and relatives, do sembahyang, even there is the Ogoh-Ogoh Parade like this. And then, there is Ngembak Geni, a gathering activity after we did Catur Brata (which means no light, no noise, no activity, and no entertainment) on Silence Day. Although it is true that we do Catur Brata in Silence Day, actually we are having dialogue with God. Thus, interaction and dialog are always there, on the commemoration of Silence Day.”

Hence, what do usually people think about Silence Day? The feast of the Hindus? The day when the Hindus just remain in silence and do nothing? Even if it is true that they commemorate Silence Day in calm and tranquility, actually it has its own joy and cheers in what people see as the silence.

**This was an assignment of Journalistic Class in 2012. I miss this class a lot and also my super awsome lecturer.