Omed-omedan photo by fphoto-dailyphoto.blogspot.com

A day after Nyepi, the Balinese Hindu hold a kissing ceremony called Omed-omedan. The tradition held by the people of Banjar Kaja, in Denpasar. Participants for this unique tourism attraction are men and girls who have certain condition.

Omed-omedan is firstly intended as a media for the villagers to know and meet each other. In this tradition no one should have hate, they should respect and caring for others. The word Omed-omedan means to pull in bared hand. The traditional leader explained whether this ceremony is purely a cultural heritage so that people outside Bali shouldn’t create bad interpretation on this.

This tradition that is interesting attraction for tourism in Bali may only be followed by teruna and teruni (man and girl) which is still single and about 15 years old.

People in Banjar Kaja is not dare to stop the tradition. They afraid of the bad luck that will come to the villagers. It was once stopped, but then there are two pigs fight in the omed-omedan area. After checked, there were not villagers’ pigs bleeding or wounded. The other incident happened, there was a man possessed (trance) and he warned the people not to stop the ceremony. For them, that two events are the ‘sign’.

Bali chief Inspector General of Police, Sutisna, stated that tourists who visited Bali to always use the hotel services that have been security standardization certified .

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Mr. Sutisna delivered it after receiving a visit from representatives of the Consulate General (Consul General) of Japan who came to give an appreciation for the performance of Polda Bali who successfully catch the killer of tourists from Japan, Rika Sano (33). “We asked to all the tourists who will visit the island resort to always use the hotel services that have been certified by the standardization of security and safety,” he said.

In addition, Sutisna also reminded the hotel to confirm if there are people who want to meet one of the guests who were at the hotel. “So there must be confirmation from the relevant guests first, before anyone is allowed into the hotel,” he said. “Thus, something like that happened to a tourists from Japan, Rika Sano, who was staying at the Hotel Prani Kuta on 25 September 2009 does not happen again,” he said.

The existence of cases that happen to foreigners is possible to create negative impact on the economy in Bali, especially those in the world of tourism. For that, he expects to tourists who will visit Bali to always use the authorized “travel agent”, and if you can, stay at certified hotel.

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Bali-India Foundation pioneered the development of “Markandeya Yoga City”, the largest yoga center in Asia at a remote village Sukasada District, Buleleng, north Bali. “This center of yoga activities will be the largest in Asia,” said Chairman of Bali-India Foundation, Dr. Somvir in Denpasar.

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The facilities on an area of 1.5 hectares will be built starting on March 3, 2010 together with the opening of “Bali-India International Yoga Festival. “Markandeya Yoga City will manage the levels of education starting from Primary School (SD), High School (SMP) and Senior High School (SMU) with the nuances of yoga,” said Dr. Simvir.

Educational institutions is also emphasized on the traditional medicine or “Ayurveda” and alignment with the permanent treatment by utilizing various types of plants that grow in the surrounding environment. Yoga Markandeya City Development will be done in stages, including the expansion of land by embracing self-help and participation of local communities.

“Yoga city will be full of social activities devoted for human beings,” said Dr. Somvir. Initiate these activities has now been planted about 50 species of plants which have medicinal function to cure many kinds of diseases that are especially imported from India. Various types of medicinal plants were developed in the Banjar Gunung Sari, Desa Tegal Linggah, Sukasada District, Buleleng Regency, 80 km from Denpasar City.

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