H

undreds of people hooted and screamed in excitement as a young man, sitting on the shoulders of his two friends, managed to land some quick kisses on a girl's cheek as men splashed water on the two.

The girl, also sitting on the shoulders of two men, could only try to hide her blushing in vain while the sounds of a Balinese ensemble got louder and merrier. The two were among some 200 youths who participated in the annual local omed-omedan (kissing) ritual in Kaja hamlet, Sesetan sub-district on Friday afternoon.

The participants stand in two opposite groups (men on one side, women on the other) and pick their friends to be the next designated "kissers". The selected teenagers are carried on their friends' shoulders and performed the quick, ritualistic kisses. The participants then chose another pair of "kisser" until every member of the group gets their turn.

However, on this afternoon, only 15 pairs got a chance to kiss. The committee worried that giving all group members a chance would extend the festival late into the night.

"This is a unique tradition, the only one in Bali. It's not merely a kissing activity," Gede Anindya Perdana Putra, the leader of the hamlet's youth group, said.

He said the ritual has been passed down from generation to generation in the hamlet as an activity intended to strengthen the social cohesion of the youth. It is held on ngembak geni (welcome the fire) day, which falls the day after Nyepi.

Head of the festival committee Ketut Astawa firmly assured that the ritual had nothing to do with pornography. He said the hamlet once dismissed the ritual in 1980s and a strange thing happened in the hamlet which worried the residents.

"Suddenly two pigs fought each other at the community hall and the residents could hardly separate them," he said, adding that after a purification ceremony, it was decided that the omed-omedan ritual should be continued.

To add more colors to the tradition, the Sesetan sub-district this year organized a street bazaar in the morning before omed-omedan. It featured some 50 vendors, who offered various goods, including traditional food, clothes and incense, before the ritual was held in the afternoon.

Olga Kuzina and Sasha Tovstik, two tourists from Russia, said they learned the festival from their friends and were eager to see it for themselves.

Astawa said the street bazaar was inspired by the success of the recent Gajah Mada Food festival.

"The other reason is to uplift the spirits of the youths who couldn't hold an ogoh-ogoh (giant papier mache doll) parade this year," he said.

The visitors were also amused by the performance of three comedians in a traditional Balinese comical performance, known as a bondres, as well as some musical groups.