MEDAN, INDONESIA, March 11, 2024 (Al Jazeera): The Raksa Buana Great Temple in Medan is one of only two Balinese Hindu temples in the Indonesian city of 2.5 million people. Tucked away in a backstreet, it would be easy to miss the carved stone building, which was built in 1978. While the temple is usually closed to the public, on March 10 its front gates – flanked by two fearsome temple guardians carved from stone – were thrown open for the eve of Nyepi, known as the Day of Silence, and mostly celebrated in Bali, the mainly Hindu island in mostly Muslim Indonesia. Wayan Dirgayasa, a professor of English at the State University of Medan who leads the city’s Balinese Hindu community, told Al Jazeera that Nyepi is one of the most important holidays in their religious calendar.

In Bali, where 92 percent of the population follows a form of Hinduism based on ancestor worship and animism dating back to the first century, Nyepi is taken extremely seriously. In Medan, however, where about 68 percent of people are Muslim and there are substantial numbers of Christians and Buddhists, Nyepi is more relaxed, Made Rai, the deputy head of the city’s Balinese Hindu community, told Al Jazeera. While Nyepi is a public holiday across Indonesia, families in Medan have none of the restrictions of Bali, and it is up to them how they choose to spend the day. The Hindu community in Medan is made up of the Bali diaspora, Hindus from Java, and Hindus from the local Tamil, Chinese and Batak Karo communities. Indonesia has a population of more than 279 million people, and 87 percent of people in the country are Muslim while only 1.7 percent are Hindu.

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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/11/outside-bali-indonesias-hindus-celebrate-nyepi-in-intimate-ceremonies

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