Mekotek is one of the traditions of rejecting bad luck from Munggu Village, Mengwi District, Badung Regency, Bali, Indonesia. The Mekotek ceremony is carried out with the aim of asking for safety. Mekotek ceremony is also known as ngerebek. Mekotek is an ancestral heritage that is carried out from generation to generation to this day by Balinese Hindus.
In the beginning, Mekotek was carried out to welcome the Mengwi Kingdom soldiers who came with a victory over the Blambangan Kingdom in Java and then became a tradition until now. During the Dutch rule in 1915, Mekotek was stopped, because the Dutch were worried that there would be a rebellion. However, there was an outbreak of disease so Mekotek was held again to ward off disaster.
The Mekotek ceremony is held once every 6 months, 210 days (based on the Hindu calendar) on Saturday Kliwon Kuningan right on the Kuningan holiday or after the Galungan holiday. In the past, Mekotek celebrations used iron, which gave fighting spirit to the battlefield or from the battlefield. However, because many participants were injured, the iron spear was replaced with a stick made of pulet wood that has been peeled of its skin and measured about 2-3.5 meters long. The participants are required to wear the traditional madya clothes of kancut and udeng batik and gather at the Munggu dalem temple. After gathering, they perform prayers and express gratitude for the crops. After that, all participants marched to the water source in Munggu village. This ceremony was attended by 2000 participants, namely Munggu residents consisting of 15 banjars taking to the streets from the age of 12 to 60 years. The participants were divided into groups of 50 people each. Wooden sticks are carried, pitted in the air to form a pyramid or cone. Those who have the guts climb to the top of the bundle of sticks and stand on top, giving a pep talk to their group. The same is done by other groups. The command given by the person at the top of the stick is to hit the opposing group of sticks or other groups. This Mekotek tradition is accompanied by gamelan to encourage the participants.