Many (Young Gods)

Bad Spirits! No room for You in our Land. How to practice the Responsibility of Freedom: the Balinese Way. Once a year (but be warned: according to the Balinese calendar!) young people meets and - after a very joyous body-painting - they walk through dozens of villages - where people is expecting them. Why? They parade, singing, shouting, playing. Addressed to the whole Universe: "This is our land! Evil Spirits away from here!" Through rice fields, forests and rivers. For hours and miles. They stop every once in a temple and pray. "This is our land! Evil Spirits away from here!" You would say: "folklore" - "primitivism." But better to know that in Bali, the first day of the year (again according to the Balinese calendar!) three indications are strictly complied with: - no fire - no walking - no working plus one: - Silence. And, for 24 hours, the streets are deserted, no flights in or out!, all the families at home. Why? There's an explanation: this is the day when the evil spirits are coming flying over the island. They see it deserted ... and they go where humans - taken from their activism - are not realizing what is happening, and let Bad Spirits enter in their villages, in their houses, in their hearts. An example of a very powerful Bad Spirit? Greed!!! Can you imagine something like in your country? Can you imagine the power of 24 hours of silence... 24 hours with no TV, no Internet, no cars, no work, no planes, no politicians, no advertising, no newspapers, no thieves (in every village, for some urgencies you are authorized to move, of course, but a self-organized village guards pay attention to movements from special places called Bale – a rotten-built small house you can see in every village). Look at their faces, look at the beauty of being aware of the personal and collective responsibility to be free! To guarantee a balance between taking and giving - with the environment and among men - is the key of the Balinese spirituality in every day life. That's why they smile and look at you in the eyes every time they meet another human being. Maurizio Jaya Costantino PS: “Thank you” in Indonesian is “Terima Kasih” - they say in Dictionaries. But the true translation is: “To Give, To Receive”!