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Ceremony/Event

Melasti

Public Ceremony

about

Melasti

Melasti is the largest purification ritual in Bali. It always takes place 2 to 4 days before Nyepi. The villages specify the date and cannot be precisely and universally determined. The purpose of this ceremony is to purify the body, aka the small world (Bhuana Alit) and the big body/the whole universe (Bhuana Agung), from evil intentions and thoughts. 


Participants are dressed in traditional white Balinese clothing, which symbolizes purity. Sacred symbols from temples are brought to the beaches (in marine areas) or sacred springs or lakes (in mountainous regions) during the sound of traditional music by the Gamelan orchestra. The largest processions of up to thousands of worshippers are usually near the sea temples.


During the ritual, some participants achieve a state of trance Surupan, aka merging with the divine.


After the Melasti ceremony is over and sacrifices are made (often animals such as chickens and piglets are killed), the divine symbols return to the temple with the worshippers, who continue their prayers.


The purification ritual of Melasti is a preparation for the arrival of the new year Nyepi, into which believers can enter completely cleansed of all evil.


Other names: Melis

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