Spiritual Tourism: Self-Healing through Melukat Ritual in Bali

Abstract

The incessant promotion of Bali tourist destination has resulted in other unique attracttions offered by the island of God becoming popular. One of them is melukat, the purification ritual, which includes spiritual tourism. This study aims at examining the discourse of melukat ritual as a self-healing in the context of Bali cultural tourism development. The research method is exploratory to identify various indications related to the melukat ritual. Data collection techniques using observation, interview guidelines, and literature study. The informants were not only the locals but also visitors both domestic and foreign who were selected purposively. The results reveal that melukat itself is one of the religious traditions of Hindus in Bali, which is one of the series in the tirtayatra ritual. In the process of melukat, a series of rituals of praying, meditating, or taking tirta (holy water) are carried out. The main purpose of this tradition is to cleanse the soul from negative things, such as anxiety, nightmares, illness and other negative influences. One of the novelty drawn from this ritual is that even though this tradition is a religious activity of Hindus, Hindu priests do not bid anyone who wants to take part in the melukat ritual, including the tourists.