Omed-Omedan, Kissing Ritual in Bali

Hari Raya Nyepi 2010 or you can read it as Day of Silence was celebrated one week ago. It was March 16th, 2010 to be exact. So, why I write about it now? Anything specials?

Well, other than that Balinese people have to keep their activities as minimum as possible on this day (i.e. they can not turn on the lamp, radio, television), there is a special annual celebration, one day after Hari Raya Nyepi. It is a kissing ritual called ‘omed-omedan’. This ritual is held by people of Banjar Kaja, Sesetan village, South Denpasar.

According to this, the history of Omed-omedan that was known to locals:

Omed-omedan come from ‘omed’ meant pull. Many people outside Banjar Kaja often call omed-omedan with med-medan. “Actually, this tradition was held on Nyepi day,” said I Wayan Sunarya, Kelian Adat (Head of Banjar) Banjar Kaja. In the bygone days, Raja Puri Oka, authority of Sesetan village, was sick. He was still sick until Nyepi but the teenagers of Banjar Kaja were bored staying in home during the silence day. So, they went out gathered together. They played and chatted noisily that Raja Puri Oka was disturbed. Raja Puri Oka felt angry and commanded them to get in their house. But a miracle happened. Raja Puri Oka got well and became really healthy. Since that day, Raja Puri Oka told Banjar Kaja’s teenagers to do ‘omed-omedan’ in Nyepi Day.

There are as many as 100 young boys and girls participated in this year Omed-omedan. In this event, they were separated into two groups after a joint prayer. The boys were going north of the road, and the girls were going south of the road. After the groups were facing each others, each groups will assign one person to form a couple. Before the couple were hugging and kissing, the contestants have to ‘omed-omedan’ or ‘pulling each others’ first. When they were hugging and kissing, the spectators will throw some waters to them. Omed-omedan usually lasts for two hours.

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