Nyepi, also known as Day of Silence, is a Balinese holiday held every Isakawarsa ("new year") according to the Balinese calendar, and it can be traced as far back as 78 A.D.
The observance includes maintaining silence, fasting, and meditation for Balinese Hindus. The following day is celebrated as New Year's Day. After Nyepi, youths in the village of Sesetan in southern Bali practice the ceremony of omed-omedan, or "kissing ritual".
Melasti is a Hindu Balinese purification ceremony and ritual, which, according to the Balinese calendar, is held several days prior to the Nyepi holy day. It is observed by Hindus in Indonesia, especially in Bali. Melasti was meant as the ritual to cleanse the world from all the filth of sin and bad karma through the symbolic act of acquiring the Tirta Amerta, "the water of life".
The Melasti ceremony is held on the edge of the beach to purify oneself of all the bad things in the past and throw them into the ocean. In Hindu belief, water sources such as lakes and seawater, are considered the source of life (Tirta Amrita). In addition to performing prayers, during the Melasti ceremony, all sacred objects which belong to a temple, such as pralingga or pratima of Lord Ida Sanghyang Widi Wasa, and all of the sacred equipment, are cleaned and purified.
View the full Wikipedia page for MelastiSatu Suro (Javanese: ꦱꦶꦗꦶꦱꦸꦫ, romanized: Siji Suro) is the first day of the Javanese calendar year in the month of Suro (also transcribed as Sura), corresponding with the first Islamic month of Muharram. It is mainly celebrated in Java, Indonesia, and by Javanese people living elsewhere.
Satu Suro has numerous associations in Javanese folk tales and superstitions in Java that vary considerably through regional variation in cultural practices. The prevalent theme of most Satu Suro superstitions is the danger of going out from home, similar to the Balinese holiday of silence, Nyepi.
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