What Is A Melasti Ceremony? This Is An Explanation And Stages In General

Illustration of the Melasti Ceremony (Antara/Heru Suyitno)

YOGYAKARTA Not everyone knows what a Melasti Ceremony is that is often carried out by Hindus. In general, Melasti is one of the sacred ceremonies carried out by Hindus throughout Indonesia. Melasti's understanding is not that simple. For more details, see the following article.

Judging from the language, Melasti comes from two words, namely mala which means dirt, and asti which means throwing away. From the language, it can be concluded that Melasti is related to the process of disposal of dirt.

Melasti is one of the funeral ceremonies carried out by Hindus before entering Nyepi Day. The activity was carried out at Panglong 13 months Ciatra or exactly three days before Nyepi Day arrived. This means that Melasti is only done once a year.

However, quoted from Antara, in Lontar Sunarigama it was said that the Melasti ceremony was held four or three days before Nyepi's holy day. However, there are also those who hold this ceremony two days before Nyepi celebration.

Called the funeral ceremony because the Melasti perpetrators will remind themselves to clean themselves and the universe including the world and its entirety. Melasti is also intended to clean and purify the sacred objects that Pura has, namely Pralingga or Pratima Ida Bhatara and other equipment. The object will then be paraded to surround the village.

In its implementation, the Melasti ritual is carried out near water sources, in the form of beaches, tubers, lakes, and so on. The simple way to perform the Melasti ceremony is to wash your face or simply touch your body into the water to live up to negative karma or other bad things.

It must be noted that the Melasti ceremony is always held in water sources. In Hindu belief, water sources are the source of Tirta Amerta or the water of life. The source is believed to provide life for all living things in the world.

The stages of the Melasti ceremony in general are as follows, quoted from Antara.

Apart from what is related to the Melasti ceremony, visit VOI.ID for other interesting information.