Ogoh-ogoh parades take place between 7-9 pm throughout Bali. The aim is to confuse the bad spirits of the island. At the end of the processions, the effigies are burned in big fires.

During these solemn, powerful hours, priests throughout Bali will perform a tawur agung, praying and ritually sacrificing a variety of animals to appease the demons and honor the gods in an attempt to harmonize the conflicting universal powers of good and evil. While this ritual takes place towards midday in the village temple, usually close to intersections, on that night another form of cleansing ritual called ngerupuk turns almost the whole island into a lively night of carnival. During the ngerupuk processions, village youths carry dozens of giant effigies, known as ogoh-ogoh. Accompanied by burning torch light and gamelan music, baleganjur, on the eve of Nyepi becomes a not to be missed event in Bali.
Although Ogoh-ogoh can be seen from time to time as part of festival and dance performances, the ones made for the ngerupuk cleansing ritual are very special. Constructed around a bamboo frame, the effigies are stuffed with coconut fibre, animal hair, and sometimes with styrafoam. The outer skin is finished with glossy acrylic paint or with some form of fur depending of the character that they portray. Ogoh-ogoh characters can be taken from Hindu mythology and sometimes from a contemporary figure that is considered fit to symbolize evil spirits, like a bomber. They are colossal in scale, can be between 2-3 metres high and very dramatic. It could take 2-3 weeks to make one. The ogoh-ogoh are carried around the villages in a noisy parade full with torch-light. This act is believed to pacify evil spirits or other destructive forces.

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