Baptism By Fire

Sparks fly as the people of Bali see their old wrongs go up in smoke on New Year’s Eve

Tonight, Nagi’s locals are unusually riled up.

It’s as hot as Hades in the typically sleepy village, and a massive bonfire of coconut husks and dried palm leaves crackles and hisses, its orange glow illuminating a tiny but crowded community square. Men are gathered around the blaze, clad in nothing but checkered sarongs, whooping and screaming with their hands in the air. Fists pound bare chests glistening with sweat.

It’s almost Nyepi. It’s time for the fire war. Perang api is one tradition few Balinese celebrate, and fewer outsiders know about. While the practices associated with the Hindu New Year’s Eve are well documented – a day of enforced silence, fasting and meditation – this little-known ritual takes place at 6pm in a handful of neighborhoods in central Bali on pengrupukan, the day preceding Nyepi.