Lombok’s Kuta beach hosts one of Lombok’s most fantastic annual events, the Bau Nyale. Every year, 5-days following the 2nd full moon-usually February but some of the times March-a bottom dwelling sea worm (Eunice viridis) begins a reproductive cycle by sending sperm and ovum-containing sections to wriggle to the surface and produce fertilized eggs. The same phenomenon takes place elsewhere in Indonesia, notably Sumba, where it marks the beginning of the Pasola rite.
The citizenry of Lombok, like the Sumbanese, believe that the relative number of these nyale “worms,” along with other aspects of their behavior, have a direct bearing on the abundance of the forthcoming rice harvests. There's a legend of a beautiful princess who despaired over the many suitors fighting to wed her and threw herself into the sea. Her exquisite hair became the nyale worms. (There's a similar legend among the people of Sumba.)
Just before the appearance of the nyale, 1000s of people encamp on Kuta’s beach. When the worms are seen, the rite is opened by the mangku, the leader of traditions. The richness aspect of the rite takes a form particular to Lombok, a conservative society where young people of mature age have little opportunity for contact. At the nyale fete, parents loosen their holds on their daughters, and young people are allowed unsupervised contact, albeit in groups. Courting is permissible, but only publically. Some restraints still implement.
Young men and women, dressed-up in their best, form separate groups and go strolling around to see what’s available. Romancing takes place through poetic songs and subtle paronomasia; just the opposite of masculine posing.
At dawn, the youths go out in boats to collect the worms, which will be prepared for eating later in a variety of ways: salt-cured and partially fermented, and preserved in bamboo tubes. Some believe that eating nyale worms produces an aphrodisiacal effect.
In the past few years, with an eye to making the nyale ritual more spellbinding to foreign tourers, the gov't has commissioned paid actors to put on a beachside play reenacting the drama of Princess Nyale. The “play” belongs to the show floors of tourist hotels, not Kuta beach during the local festivities.
