Balinese New Year’s day according to the Caka Calendar this is a day inactivity and silence throughout the island 24-hour. Fires may not be lit so cooking must be done the day before. Great purification offerings are made in every village on the day before to appease the evil spirits and a general exorcism is held. That evening large gangs of children roam the villages dressed in garnish attire and bearing burning torches, chanting and banging on home made cymbals to scare the evil spirits away. Traditionally the day of Nyepi is spent at home fasting, in prayer and meditation, but only more religious Brahman families follow this custom.