TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A total of 5,000 Hindus from Central Java and Yogyakarta joined Tawur Kesanga ritual to commemorate Nyepi Holy Day at Prambanan Temple, Yogyakarta, on Friday, March 16.

Since early morning, people flocked to the yard of Wisnu Mandala in Prambanan Temple Park (TWC) to conducting the ritual.

"Tawur Agung Kesanga is a purification ceremony which is held one day before Nyepi Saka 1940," said Committee Chairman of National Nyepi Laksda TNI I Nyoman Gede Ariawan.

He said the series of activities in National Nyepi 2018 was under themed 'By Brata Cerita Penyepian, We Increase the Solidarity to Maintain the National Unity'. "The peak will be on Saturday, all Hindus in Indonesia will carry out the ritual," Nyoman said.

Tawur Agung ritual begins with the offerings of Mendak Tirtha at Ratu Boko Temple followed by taking tirtha warih or holy water and eternal fire from the temple to be brought to TWC Prambanan.

"The Hindus leader will then circle around Brahma, Wisnu, and Syiwa temples or pradaksina inside the Prambanan TWC complex," he said.

The Hindu leaders, he explained, will then bring holy water to the main altar and pray. Nyoman remarked the holy water was not only from the spring water source in Central Java but also imported directly from India.

National Nyepi Committee Public Relations Purwanto stated the holy water came from 108 springs and seven of them were in India. "We assigned a team to go there (India) to take the holy water from various rivers including Yamuna, Marmalade, Sindhu, Kameri, and others," he said.

The ritual held ahead of Nyepi Day also enlivened by the performance of 40 dancers from Suro Sumirat dance group (Puro Mangkunegaran, Surakarta) displaying Gambyong Dance and Ramayana Dance.

ANTARA