Ogoh-Ogoh — there is a bit of Bali in Lombok. That line has become something of a slogan in Lombok tourism, and it holds up. If you would like to witness the parade yourself, we can arrange the timing through our Lombok tour packages.
Lombok sits just east of Bali and is home to a large Balinese Hindu community. It is no surprise, then, that Hindu temples and cultural events are a common sight across the island.
One of the most striking of those events is the ogoh-ogoh parade, which marks the eve of Nyepi, the Balinese Day of Silence, and is celebrated most vividly in Mataram City.
In the year covered here, 120 ogoh-ogoh effigies took part, carried by 88 Sekha Teruna Teruni (youth groups) from neighbourhoods across Mataram, one day before Nyepi of the Saka year 1936.
The effigies, usually shouldered by teenagers, gather from early morning in front of the West Cakranegara district office. The procession moves off to the sound of Balinese gamelan, while tens of thousands of residents line both sides of Jalan Pejanggik and Jalan Langko.
At the opening of the festival, Mayor of Mataram H. Ahyar Abduh described Mataram as a city of many ethnic groups, each with its own cultural identity.
Holding a religious ceremony that is also a cultural celebration reflects the city’s vision of being forward-looking, devout and cultured. The city government continues to encourage tolerance and mutual respect between faith communities.
