Returning to Bali: The experience everyone should do
When you return to Bali, be sure to book in for this truly joyous life-changing activity. You'll never forget it.
Melukat water blessing ceremony
Bali is an intriguing place - you can start the day doing something completely mundane, then the universe tilts on its axis and you end up on some adventure you could never have imagined on waking.
And so it was today. At 8am, I was sitting happily in lovely Baiku Warung, a little open-sided cafe where wafts of Javanese coffee meet the whirr of a fan and the sing-song of crickets. By 10.45am, thanks to a last-minute invitation from social enterprise Astungkara Way, I am clad in a full-length sarong, under a waterfall, bellowing my lungs out.
This public outpouring of emotion is part of the Hindu water purification ceremony known as Melukat, which means 'letting go'. For Balinese people, it’s a way to cleanse and purify the body through water immersion, while invigorating the mind and soul. Gifts and prayers are offered to the gods in the hope of health and happiness in return. Pent-up anger and emotion is let loose so that the mind can release negative energy and move forward. It’s also lots of fun and ranks as one of the highlights of Astungkara’s staycation and pilgrimage experiences.
After I’ve changed into a sarong and kicked off my birks I follow my guide - a Balines guy called Pak Komang - through the dreamy scenery. Water ceremonies are typically carried out in beautiful paradisiacal settings at temples with fountains or in nature where waterfalls, creeks and swimming holes abound. Taman Beji Griya Waterfall, in Kabupaten Badung, is no different. The tropical rainforest, streaked with skinny coconut palms, shades a burbling creek where big-fanged cobras and writhing dragons have been carved into the stone banks. The waterholes are populated by giant goldfish. A cave, with walls that appear to part like curtains as you walk through, has water cascading from above through rays of sunlight.
With the guidance of Pak Komang, I wander through this scenery, laying offerings of flowers and incense at mossy shrines and grottos as l go. Demons are carved bas-relief into the cliff walls, and statues of deities are painted in gold and shaded by tassled yellow sun umbrellas. Spirals of drifting incense smoke adds a hint of mysticism to proceedings as does the soft chant of prayer.
In a cave lorded over by a stone demon, I stand before a spout and douse my head and neck with water. At another, Pak Komang ladles water on my head while I close my eyes in meditation.
Writer Penny Watson in the waterfall at Taman Beji Griya Waterfall, in Kabupaten Badung
At the aforementioned waterfall where visitors are required to yell at the top of their lungs while feeling the full force of the white water, I really do let go of some of the week’s frustrations. My throat is sore from hollering and I’m completely saturated, but it feels exhilaratingly good. The next waterfall is all about laughing whole-heartedly to express happiness and welcome the good spirits - the smiles come naturally given the circumstances.
After an hour, the ceremony finishes with a blessing from a white-robed healer who pours fresh coconut juice into my cupped hands and tips the rest over my head. Pak Komang tucks a flower behind my ear and tells me I am happy and blessed. He is not wrong.