AsiaRooms.com - See the ritual of Metatah performed in Ubud

AsiaRooms.com reports people staying in hotels in Ubud may well find that they are able to attend a Balinese ceremony to mark the beginning of adulthood during their stay.

Between July 1st and July 31st, many communities around the island carry out the Metatah - or tooth filling - ceremony.

This Hindu ritual is seen as "an important rite of passage" among Balinese communities, according to OKalpha.com.

During the ceremony, six teeth are "filled" because long teeth are perceived as signs of vices within Balinese communities.

Each tooth that is filled represents a different vice – greed, lust, jealousy, intoxication, anger and foolishness.

The process takes approximately ten to 15 minutes and often sees several children from one family undergoing the ritual at the same time.

Parents of the children must provide offerings at the temples as part of the ceremony.

All of the participants wear brightly coloured outfits, which are displayed during the procession that takes place as part of the ritual.

The Bali Weekly explains that Metatah symbolises the change from childhood to adulthood, with the ceremony designed to show that "someone should be wiser when stepping [out] as an adult".


Prayers by the family mark the end of the ceremony, with both parents and children asking for safety, new life and to be spared from the six evil vices.

Posted by Charlotte Springer

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