Nyepi is the Balinese New Year’s Day according to their calendar and is honored through obligatory fasting, inactivity, prayer, and silence throughout the island for 24 hours.
Great purification offerings are made in every village on the day before to appease the evil spirits, and lively exorcisms are held. Large gangs of youth and children roam the villages bearing burning torches, various noisemaking devices, and giant monsters of bamboo, wood, and paper to scare evil spirits away.
