Awoke at 4.34am, STILL on Melbourne time, so I decided because of Nyepi day that it wasnt worth getting up early anyway.
Last night I met a lovely couple fresh in from Wales via KL. We had dinner together at one of the few restaurants that was still open and then we sat there waiting for the procession to come. The earlier rain we had had had (first time in my life ive ever typed that) delayed the parade but did nothing to dampen the spirit of the participants. With their best traditional costumes and grins on their faces, you realise how much the locals had been anticipating the event.
The Agoh Agoh's (paper mash, Im not even going to try, figures) were of grotesque (to me) figures, always fighting and always with ,( I presume) the hero standing over, or about to vanquish the villain. Huge amounts of creative efforts had gone into producing these statues, which looked like they had just stepped out from the pages of an Indonesian Tattoo artists sketch book.
The figures were built on a wire frame and covered with paper machette, (cant say I didnt try) and then finished with paint. Dressed in traditional mythical costumes with some of the very masculine looking creatures displaying their very feminine naked breasts it was a very confusing but delightful period of whimsy. And the locals were loving it.
For the most part, the figures were about 15 foot high, 5 metres or so and mounted on an open framed bamboo platform which in turn was carried by boys/men in traditional dress. I dont remember seeing any girls doing the heavy lifting. Because of the height of the "floats", there were many delays in the pageant as men with long bamboo poles had to preceed the taller floats to place their poles vertically and lift the overhead wires higher than the floats to enable them to pass under.One bloke per pole but lots of helpful advice from the pole carriers many assistants. Like ants crowding the Queen Bee, and lots of pointing and yelling to be heard, and, the locals were loving it.
So much exuberance being shown by the participants and the locals, it was like Moomba on steroids. When the carriers found a bit of space to work with they would get up a bit of a run and charge towards the crowds lined along the street and do spins, which would have been game- over if they lost control of the balance of their creatures, and the kids were loving it. Lots of squeals of delight and frantic scrambling to get out of the way as the carriers would try to furiously turn the float in circles. So glad I was here to see it and be a part of it.
Sitting now at this computer, plunking away with my middle finger, it occurs to me that I would love to go out onto the street right now, just to have a look at the lack of everything that equals most peoples idea of what makes Bali so special. SIGH. Not allowed to happen and at the same time, resignation that we need to respect their culture and their express wishes. At least they were happy to share their most joyous festival with us last night. For that, I scincerely thank them.
More later. Billthefencer.