The ancient Balinese ritual of "mebug-bugan" in the village of Kedonganan in South Kuta was forgotten for nearly 60 years and then revived just three years ago.
It takes place on the day following the Day of Silence, Nyepi. The tradition of mebug-bugan involves hundreds of young men and women from the village, dressed only in sarongs, walking through the mangrove forests and covering each other in mud before reaching the coastline to wash off the dirt.
Local residents claim that in the distant past, the mebug-bugan ritual played a more significant role in the Nyepi celebrations in Kedonganan than the currently popular ogoh-ogoh parades.
It is said that before modern modesty norms were introduced, participants used to perform the ritual naked, which is why the ritual fell into oblivion. Now, after 60 years, the ceremony has been revived with participants wearing sarongs.
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