What Is Melasti? The Hindu 'Purification Festival' Celebrated Ahead Of Balinese New Year Nyepi Day
The Melasti ceremony is also known as Melis or Mekiis, and is usually held three days before Nyepi Day. Locals observe Melasti on the first new moon in March.
New Delhi: Hindus in Bali are gearing up for a prayer ceremony known as Melasti, a purification festival held several days before "Nyepi", the Day of Silence that marks the Balinese new year.
The Melasti ceremony is also known as Melis or Mekiis, and is usually held three days before Nyepi Day. Locals observe Melasti on the first new moon in March.
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During Melasti, villagers organise a parade carrying all the sacred objects from their temple to a nearby lake or holy spring. These sacred objects are then cleaned and purified with the holy water of the lake. This ceremony is aimed at cleansing the human body and Earth from bad spirits.
What is unique about the ceremony?
A Balinese traditional instrument (Gamelan) is played during the parade as priests lead the procession. After reaching the sea or lake, temple paraphernalia and sacred objects are purified based on local rituals and later carried back to the temple. People then visit temples to worship for prosperity and peace.
People perform the ceremony with an aim to purify themselves from all the bad things and sins of the past. Tourists also get to witness this unique spectacle. Locals participate in the ceremony wearing white or yellow traditional attire, carrying banners and flowers and chant the Melasti prayers.
Water is considered a significant aspect in Balinese Hindu life and believed that the function of water is not only to cleanse, but also purify themselves and the universe. Hence, the Melasti ceremony is carried out in the sea, lake or other water sources.
After the ceremony, people take back the holy water to their villages and sprinkle it on every resident, including their houses and rice fields.
This year Balinese New Year falls on March 3. Nyepi is the most important and sacred Hindu festival in Indonesia. Observed as the Day of Silence, people stay at home and are not allowed to use lights, start fires, work or travel.
The island of Bali also shuts down for a day of silence to mark the Hindu new year.
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