orient-tale-list

Relatives from Obama visit Komodo island

noreply@blogger.com (banyurojo) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:47:00 +0000

Bona Rumat the top in the section Means the promotion with the culture and tourism NTT says tourists visiting to Kupang might Rp 2million to buy traditional instrument sasando and woven ikat. "It becomes an advantage for your region," he stated. Directly on schedule, Monday, the ship will probably be left to Larantuka, and continued to cruise for the island of Sumba and the Komodo Island before continuing the voyage to Manila and Singapore.
While using escalating foreign tourists to go to Indonesia, then the Government offers to reveal the Sail Komodo in 2013. "Currently NTT is the pre-eminent destinations for tourism," he stated.
The main intent behind the visit of tourists to check out the region of Komodo to look closely an uncommon beast in the seven wonders worldwide. Bona Rumat says tourism Nusa Tenggara Timur begun to widely known abroad considering that the Government does promotions during of late to win the komodo dragon as one of the seven wonders of the world.
In Kupang, numerous tourists visit this to many tourist locations, such as the traditional markets, museums, crafters, and output of weaving ikat instrument sasando. American ship it this a few weeks ago has twice visited the town of Kupang. Before ship had visited Kupang on January 29, 2012.
Up to 210 tourist origin U . S ., Monday, February 20, 2012, visit many attractions in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), before continuing the vacation to Komodo National Park (TNK), of West Manggarai Regency. Based on the head in the section Means the promotion of The culture and tourism NTT, it's among numerous tourists there exists a category of United States Of America The President. They came to Kupang using cruise ship MV Seabourn Legend.
(yahoonews)

Rinjani Mulang Pakelem Ceremony

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 09:51:00 +0000

Followers from Lombok as well as Bali and Java be interested this year's Rinjani Mulang Pakelem ceremony.
The offerings (fish and prawns shaped gifts of gold, silver and copper), and prayers request peace and prosperity for all. According to tradition, the king had an apocalyptic vision and instituted a series of ceremonies in which the offerings, were offered to the gods at the Segara Anakan lake (one of Indonesian Hindhuism's most sacred places) before each rainy season (usually December to March).
Mulang Pekelem is a ceremony in which prayers and offerings are made for the safety and prosperity of the people. It dates from a time shortly after the Hindhu settlement in west Lombok in which the population was afflicted by prolonged drought and an epidemic. In year 2006, Rinjani Mulang Pekelem ceremony was held on November 5th, ahead of the twin Hindhu Galungan and Kuningan annual festivals at the end of November and the beginning of December.
The 200-metre deep-Segara Anakan-lake is sacred to Hindhus as well as being a place of pilgrimage for Lombok's majority Moslem population. The 2006 ceremony, held late in the year, attracted more than 500 celebrants to Segara Anak (Son of The Sea) lake, 1998 metres above sea level in the crater of 3700-metre high mountain Rinjani.
The perennial Hindhu ceremonial of Rinjani Mulang Pekelem, a heritage event in Lombok that dates from the 18th century invasion and subsequent settlement of the island by Balinese from the Karangasem kingdom, always attracts 100s of celebrants.
courtesy rinjaninationalpark.com

Brand New Lombok International Airport

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:33:00 +0000

The remaining population is Balinese, Javanese, Chinese and Arabic. With a lot of potential for tourism, the province of West Lesser Sundas have a significant need to have an international airport because of limited transportation flight so far has been one obstacle to developing tourism in this province to Visit Lombok-Sumbawa 2012. Visit Lombok-Sumbawa has targeted 2012 as many as one million tourists visit the province.

In many ways, Lombok is similar to Bali, and Lombok foreign tourists began to recognize in the decade of the 1990s. About 80 percent of the population of the island of Sasak tribe, a tribe that is still close to the ethnic Balinese, but mostly converted to Islam.
Topography of the island of Lombok is dominated by Mount Rinjani (3,726 meters above sea level) which is the third highest in Indonesia. In addition Lombok also offers culinary include "Chicken Taliwang" or some sort of fried chicken and "Kangkung Plecing", such as spinach sauteed vegetable that can attract more tourists to come.
Lesser Sundas West has a number of tourist resorts, including Senggigi beach, Cakranegara, Gili Air, Gili Meno, Gili Trawangan, Gili lote, Gili Lawang, Narmada Taman Mayura and parks. In addition, Mount Rinjani, Lombok Kuta Beach, the water falling from the Spring Gile, Tiu valve, Stokel Yarn, Yarn Nets.
Actually Lombok International Airport was originally expected to be operational in July 2011, but was postponed due to the expansion of the airport terminal area of 14,000 square meters to 21,000 square meters. Thus, employment increases Lombok International Airport project.
Lombok International Airport has a runway 2750 meters x 40 meters square, so it can accommodate ten Air Bus 330 or Boeing 767 aircraft. The airport is situated on 551 acres of land, which is about 40 kilometers south of Mataram Selaparang Airport.
In Central Lombok recently, a passenger capacity of accommodating Lombok International Airport is three million passengers a year with an area of 17,500 square meter parking, while parking Selaparang Airport is only 7334 square meters.
Lombok International Airport valued at Rp 945.8 billion (one U.S. dollar is about 9,000 dollars) has a passenger terminal measuring 21,000 square feet or four times larger than Selaparang Mataram Airport which is only 4796 square meters.
Lombok International Airport, located in Tanah Awu, Pujut district, Central Lombok regency, about 40 kilometers south of Mataram Airport Selaparang.
West Lesser Sundas near Bali will soon see its completion Lombok International Airport which can also accommodate Boeing 330 or Air Bus 767.
courtesy kompas

Cakranegara

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 11:58:00 +0000

Cakranegara town is that the half of Mataram town in West Lesser Sundas. The town got Balinese influences since Cakranegara was the place where King of Karangasem took rules within the past centuries. Here can be found many monasteries and monuments that reflecting the power of King Karangasem from Bali. Such as Meru monastery that built in 1720, Mayura High Court, Water Castle, and Narmada Water Park as miniature of the sacred mountain Rindjani. Said that, once you are taking the water for drink or washing your face, you may be look forever young.

Yet Another Kuta Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:58:00 +0000

Kuta Beach is located in the village of Kuta Lombok Central Lombok West Nusa Tenggara, to issue an entrance fee and parking fee you do not need to bother to remove the amount as in other tourist areas, not in pungutnya parking fee and entrance fee due to the absence of interference from local government, but if you are a generous and you are one of those nature lovers would not hurt to spend a few dollars for the advancement of Kuta Beach Lombok Here.

One of the unique Kuta Beach Lombok is a very unique white sand shaped like grains of pepper that is very difficult to be found in other coastal tourist areas, grains of sand that makes most visitors feel at home to linger on the beach. In addition to the unique sand on this beach there is also a row of towering hills of medium size, row-row of hills that create an elegant blend of colors between the blue water and white sand beaches.

Lombok Kuta Beach is a beach that has incredible beauty, white sandy beaches dotted with blue water to green gradation in because of the underwater habitat is still preserved its continuity which of them like blue coral and red coral can we meet in this place, The rather large waves also makes this place as one of the surfing paradise for lovers of good local surfers or Non-Local.

Hearing the word of your mind definitely Kuta Beach were on a beach located on the island of Bali. Well certainly not 99% so your memories will surely lead to Kuta beach which is located on the island of thousand temples, but try to visit the small island of Lombok island, distant Elegant there you will also find Kuta beach, no less exotic to the beach of Kuta Bali.

Lombok 2000

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 22:27:00 +0000

Lombok in many ways similar to Bali, and in the decade of the 1990s began to be known by foreign tourists. Tourism potential rather displaced. Then in early 2000 there were riots inter-ethnic and inter-faith throughout Lombok resulting in massive displacement of minorities. They mainly fled to the island of Bali.

The common tourist destination:

Senggigi Beach
Cakranegara
Gili Air
Gili Meno
Gili Trawangan
Mount Rinjani
Kuta Beach, Lombok
Senaru (Spring Waterfall Gile and Tiu Kelep)
Tetebatu

The Myth of Nyale

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:19:00 +0000

Have you ever heard the fable about the Princess Nyale of Sumba?. I know little about these fairy tales. Once upon a time, it's told, the King of the Moon had a very beautiful daughter named Nyale. She took pity on the sufferings of human race and sacrificed herself to insure that there wishful abundant food on earth. The curious, colorful worms represents the body of the princess, coming to shore every year to give richness to the land. The number and behaviour of these mysterious worms, named nyale, auspex the success of the forthcoming rice paddy crop.

Scientific discipline offers a no less strange explanation. The “worms” are a result of the bizarre generative process of a segmented nautical worm. The worms sleep in the waters year-around but are nocturnal and thus invisible. The moon triggers a once-a-year generative phase, in which the worms shed their tail ends. These, filled with spermatozoon or eggs, wriggle to the surface. The sexual parts of these worms are considered a delicacy in many parts of the Lesser Sundas archipelago.

(narasumber)

The Deathly Pasola

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 23:17:00 +0000

The Pasola is the culmination of a series of fertility rites named nyale. 100s of warriors riding bareback on their agile ponies whirl, and charge, and hurl lances at one another. It's life-threatening mayhem. Although the gov't now requires that the lances be blunted, serious wounds are common, and deaths are occasional. In the yesteryear the event was deathly.

The lance combat allows accounts to be squared with the ancestral spirits, as anybody who dies during the Pasola does so because they've offended the supernatural guardians of the village. The wounded are de facto guilty also, though of a more small-scale infraction that the outright casualties. With offerings of chickens and grunters, anybody wounded in the battle royal can atone. Therein way, the Pasola allows the new twelvemonth to begin with no lingering offenses against the ancestors that might via media the coming crop and the wellness of the village.

(narasumber)

Ikat Cloth in Ritual Use

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 23:15:00 +0000

At the same time decorated ikat textiles serve as clothing and ornamentations, decorated ikat textiles also serve in the important system of gift exchanges. These exchanges regularise relationships between Sumbanese social groups, and between the seeable and unseeable worlds. In these systems, the cloths are tokens of status and ritual goodnesses.

The cloths used in the exchange system are the men’s hinggi and woman’s lau. Within the fixed patterns of gift-giving between social groups, the bride-givers offer symbolic “female” textiles, and receives “male” items-precious ornaments and horses-from the bride-takers.

Traditionally, the use and dispensation of fine textiles were the exclusive right of the noblesse. The best clothes were worn only at great fetes. The colours and designings of hinggi revealed a man’s station in life. Commoners wore simple bluish and lily-white fabrics, and aristocrats added ruddy. Cloths worn by the noblesse had complex patterning and displayed motifs reserved their rank.

Fine textiles play an important role at Sumbanese funerals, not just as givings, but also as shrouds. Traditionally the corpse was wrapped in the finest fabrics available to members of the deceased’s station. Protected therein way, the corpse might wait months or even years before the final entombment takes place.

Textiles entombed in the tomb play an essential role in the safe journey of the deceased to the next world, and in his wellbeing there. Chickens, for instance, ensure sustenance, horses provide transport and patola patterns announce the deceased’s rank.

An increasing demand for Sumba “market kain (cloth),” as well as transformations in Sumbanese society have given way to a number of new standards for textiles. Imported colored thread and synthetic dyestuffs are now commonly used, and there's nowadays a tendency to cut down on labor by using fewer, larger motifs, as well as the incorporation of new designings.

Beautiful Ikat Cloth Motifs

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:13:00 +0000

The sheer multifariousness of figurative and schematic motifs in Sumba is special among the ikat producing areas in East Indonesia. Sumbanese weavers reproduce standing humanlike figures, skull trees (related to head-hunting), golden ornamentations worn in ceremonies, floras, birdies, hounds and lizards, as well as geometric shapes like coils, hooks and lozenges. Some of the designs manifestly derive from foreign sources: firedrakes, taken form Chinese ceramics; rampant lion, from the Dutch coat of arms; and schematic patola ratu patterns, from Indian silks. But most of the designs derive from the local context.

Certain formal conventionalities dictate the depiction of figures in Sumbanese textiles. For instance, most quadrupeds appear in profile (although the head position may vary) while monkeys of felines present a rampant of a climbing stance. Standing manlike figures appear in a frontal view, with arms in a praying or akimbo position.

Individual figures are identified from these stereotypes by adding a specific detail. For instance, all “bird” shapes, roughly like a fowl, are understood as birds, but a crest and curved beak makes the particular figure a cockatoo. The bodies of all quadrupeds are nearly alike, but if it has an open barking mouth, it's a dog. If it has whiskers, it's a lion. The generic type of the flora or the fauna is easy to recognize, but the species determination is quite uneasy.

Garments of Lau and Hinggi

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 23:10:00 +0000

The hinggi and lau are the main garments for men and women, and they provide the major field for ornamental work. Cotton wool is the only material used in the cloth, and the basic techniques of ornamentation are dyeing, weaving and sewing on ornamentations.

The lau is the cylinder-skirt for women. Though bands of warp ikat appear in the fabric of the woman’s skirt, the dominant designings are carried out with other techniques: lau pahudu is a ceremonial skirt with designings worked by supplementary warp; the lau hada is a skirt with designs outlined in beads and shells.

The hinggi, a mantle worn by men, is constructed form 2 separately woven panels that are sewed together into a large orthogonal cloth. Hinggi are all of the time woven in pairs. One piece is wrapped about the hips, the other draped is wrapped about the hips, the other draped over the shoulder. In patterned hinggi, the 2 panels are selfsame with a fringe on both ends.

The panels are divided into an uneven number of bands, of different size and colour, each band containing a row of figures. Figures are some of the times also used in the central band, but schematic motifs are more standard. The design is arranged symmetrically along the center band, with the figures standing up when the cloth is folded in the centre.

The most impressive men’s mantle is the hinggi kombu, which is made of two-color ikat-blue and rust. The blue dyestuff comes from the Indigofera tinctoria, and is fairly strong. The rust color comes from the bark and roots of the Kombu tree, and requires that the cloth be treated with varied plant oils and an alum-containing local plant, as well as subjected to repeated dippings in the dyestuff, for the color to appear strongly. Deep, saturated tones are the most valued, but these require tedious dippings in the natural eyes.

Ikat Textiles from Sumba

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 23:07:00 +0000

Sumba textiles are distinguished by their complexity-combining ikat and supplemental ornamentation like shells and beads-and the wonderful thing about their human, fauna and otherworldly motifs. Sumbanese women are prolific weavers, and produce their valuable textiles not just for local use, but also for an export market. The weavers, who use handed-down back-strap looms, acquired their skills at their mother’s side and execute the patterns from remembering.

Traditionally, fine weaving was the exclusive right of high-ranking women from the coastal districts of Eastern Sumba. Nowadays, there are no status requirements for weavers, but most textiles still originate from the East. At the western tip of Sumba, in the region of Kodi, ikat textiles are woven too, but designings are almost totally of a geometric nature, with lily-white figures on a bluish background.

Ikat is a technique of reverse dyeing. Before weaving, yarn bundles are stretched on a frame and the pattern is produced by tying it into the threads, binding the bundles in the necessary places with dye-resistant fibre. After dipping, the bindings are removed and the design appears in reverse against a dyed background. The design can be tied into the fixed threads, the warp, or into the cross threads, the weft. In some parts of Indonesia (not Sumba) so-called double ikat-with both warp and weft threads pre-dyed-is produced.

The Myth of Kelimutu

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Fri, 21 May 2010 23:05:00 +0000

Kelimutu formerly was an important ritual site. Only about 50 years ago, in deference to the Catholic Church, did the large-scale water ox and pig sacrifices stop. For it was-and is still-believed that the souls of the deceased find their eternal resting place in these lakes.

As a matter of fact, visitors to Kelimutu might well be advised to bring offerings to Konderatu and Bobi (“the owners” of the place) if they want a clear morning in which to view the three lakes.

The locals who maintain the road to Kelimutu-landslides can cut off the upper portions of the roads, especially during the rainy season-are sometimes hurled into the mud or have their tools enigmatically grabbed away from their hands.

When this happens it's time to make offerings to calm down Konderatu. A large pig, paddy, tuak, betel pepper and some fake gold jewellery are usually sufficient to placate the spirit. It's also said that the spirits of the dead some of the times come out of the lake at night to wander around the mountain.

Three Coloured-lakes

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Sun, 09 May 2010 23:03:00 +0000

About 40 kilometers from Ende of southern Flores, Kelimutu, consists of three volcanic craters, each filled with a lake of different colour. When the clouds opened up show a large lake, filled with pale turquoise water, then a smaller lake, deep green and finally another, with achromatic coloured water. The landscape surrounding the lakes is barren and grey, and in this setting the colors nothing less than astonishing. It’s no wonder that this spot—1690 meters high—was formerly an important ritual site.

On the clear break of day, Kelimutu is one of the world’s most spectacular sights. The predawn light seeps slowly into the sky, the stars fade and the stunning mountains, rising in all shapes and seizes, come gradually into view. Some are piled on top of one another, others are separated by narrow vales.

Cheers and clicking cameras welcome the sun when it finally rises over the skyline, close to Mt. Egon, an extinct volcano which dominates the scenery to the east, near Maumere. To the south, the dark, oval peak of Keli Bara-1731 meters-looms above Kelimutu’s flattened top, notwithstanding the sun, the cold wind reaches right down to your bones for another hour or two, while people wait for the light to reach the lake ahead of the viewpoint.

The sunshine brings out the nearest lake’s beautiful turquoise, broken by a few yellowish streaks on its surface, a thin scum of sulfurous foam. By the time the shadow from the lake’s eastern crater wall casts its distinct jagged shadow across the water-around 8:30 or 9:00 a.m.-it’s time for a stroll around the other craters.

A good pathway follows the western crater top of the green lake, then continuous much of the way around the turquoise lake, ending on its eastern rim. From the path, you can cast cautious glances at the two lakes far below, separated from one another by a low, thin rock wall, perhaps 15 meters high and 10 meters thick. The sun sparkles off the lakes, which look cheerful set against the dead rock walls. The blue-green lake’s southern and western rims provide the best vantage spots for morning picture taking.

The Power of Ritual Costumes

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 23:57:00 +0000

The caci dancers costumes and equipment are steeped in symbolism, relying heavily on the water ox, the most forceful and the fiercest of all the faunae found in the region. The whip wielded by the attacker is made of sharp rattan, and sports a grip covered with skin from the knee of the fauna. Extending from the end of the rattan is a tassel fashioned from strips of buffalo hide. The whip symbolises the forcefulness of the father, the manly, and the sky. The buckler clutched by the withstander is circular. Featuring a buffalo hide cover, and is symbolic of the mother, the female, and the Earth. When the whip lashes out and crashes into the buckler the two are united.

The woody mask thrust high on each warrior’s head is to be partly covering a sarong or a towel which is rapped tightly around their faces, protecting their eyeballs. But it's the mask that’s important. Midway between its 2 “horns” is a 3rd projection stretching heavenward topped with a red tuft. The ruddy color is the symbol of the strength of the immortals. Strands of fuzz from a goat bounce derisively from the back of the headstall.

The ruddy tip between the horns also appears on buffalo head effigies at the tops of traditional Manggarai houses. Carved from a special wood, alang-alang, the buffalo denotes strength and the ruddy pinnacle once again represents the greatest strength of all-that of the immortals. The auricles of the fauna indicate commonwealth and cooperation, and rings around the neck of the figure characterise unity. Its “dress” symbolises the family.

All exposed skin on the warriors is fair game except for the lower back, where a “tail” protrudes from a belt, bespeaking that this area is out-of-bounds. Sarongs-in this case lengths of decorated Manggarai hand-woven fabric-cover twentieth-century trousers of jeans protecting the legs. As the confront and head are also partly covered, the chest, upper back and arms are the finest targets.

The Circular Shape Customs

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:53:00 +0000

The circular shape used for the warrior’s shield is repeated often in Manggarai customs. Lingko randang, the time-honoured garden planted by an entire village is also circular. The chief of the village farms a circular piece of land in the centre and each family works wedge-shaped plots, the outer arcs forming a protective boundary. Before planting starts, rites are carried out in the centre of the ring. A lingko randang can be seen in the vale from the top of Golo Curu Volcano, near Ruteng.

The circle appears again in the centre of adat (traditional) villages, surrounded by houses to protect it. A good example can be seen at Kampung Ruteng, north of the town of Ruteng. In the hearth of the village is a raised mound of earth ringing a megalithic Lord's table. During ceremonial events the villagers stand on the stone-covered earth waiting for sunup or sundown, depending on the occasion, and are impermissible to enter the ring where the dances and rites are performed.

Power of Ritual Dancings

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:50:00 +0000

Most of Lesser Sundas’ many ethnoses perform ritual dancings in festivity of special occasions: births, weddings, funerals, and national, as well as local, events. Some dancings solicit good atmospheric condition for planting, more rainfall or less during the growing season, and bounteous harvests. All of the time performed by men, these contests are designed to test forcefulness, endurance and manliness. The fighting dancings continue until blood is spilled-an offering to ancestral spirits that are believed by some to have the power to grant or reject such requests. Although the Indonesian authorities has done its best to stop all “uncivilized” practices, the rites continue. Perhaps not as much blood is shed as in the yesteryear, but the enthusiasm is still there, and the dancing delights the performing artists and spectators likewise.

In Flores many dancings involve women dressed in sarongs and scarf joints interwoven with goldthreads draped over one shoulder. Often they wear ivory bracelets that were part of their bride price. Both men and women take part in a dance (also performed in other parts of Asia) during which foursome of the dancers hold long bamboo poles parallel to the ground. Alternatively, they strike them on the ground, then lift them up and clap them together. The musical rhythm begins slowly ab initio, but the tempo crescendos as the dancers hop with one foot then the other in between the clucking bamboo poles. During an even more tireless dance involving bamboo, a man shimmies up a vertical pole held by his comrades below. When he reaches the top he balances himself horizontally on his abdomen kvetching his legs and waving his arms, while the men slowly turn the pole in roundabouts.

The Chachi Dance

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:49:00 +0000

Unique to the Manggarai citizenry of West Flores is a dance named the caci (sounded out “chachi”)-a whip and buckler affaire d'honneur. An attacker and a withstander are pitted against each other. Two men, stripped to the waist, dance in the centre of a circinate patch of bare, hard earth while spectators of all elds lean forward in aegir anticipation. The buzzers encircling the waists and ankles of the dancers at the same time entice and distract as the attacker, weaponed with a venomous whip, and the withstander, with only a rawhide buckler for protection, prance slowly around each other. The musical rhythm of the drums and the resonance of the tam-tams grow more and more frenetic. All of a sudden the Calamus rotang pole held by a referee bangs the ground with a thud. The dance commences.

Since the feet of the caci dancers stump to the beat of the drums, dust billows up just about choking the crowd. Desiccated coconut-shell cups filled with palm wine tuak fortify the forcefulness of both the warriors and the looker-ons. Bright pinko blobs of pinang-sirih, a concoction of betel nut, Piper betel and calcium hydroxide that's chewed for its narcotic-like effects, stain the ground. As at Western boxing matches, members of the audience support either one opponent or the other. Supporters of the attacker shout out to him to strike swiftly and rocky. The withstander's team roars words of encouragement as he jeers his invincibility. Arsed around by a few feints, the withstander in a moment lets down his safeguard. The attacker takes over the chance and delivers a blow, the tail of the whip reaching around the shoulders. The crowd roars with approval, peculiarly if the whip has found its mark on unveiled skin.

This time the whip has raised a raging ruddy welt on the back of the withstander. He jumps high in the air kvetching his feet, ankle buzzers jingle-jangling, ridiculing the attacker, bespeaking that the blow was nothing, that he feels no pain. Later this scar, along with those from previous battles, will be looked up to by the villagers as badges of maleness.

Later on a short break for chants and slogs of tuak, the battlers exchange whip and buckler, from each one assuming the role formerly played by the other, and the dance goes on.

Sumbawanese Wedding Party

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:14:00 +0000

Prelims to Sumbawanese wedding party included all-night singing and tambourine playing, at both the bride’s and groom’s houses. On the big day itself, the women attendants put on all of their family heirlooms-brocades and exquisite antique jewelry as well as traditional head ornaments.

The main event began with a procession from the groom’s house to the house of the bride. The parade was led by the village elders and dignitaries, who were followed by the resplendent girls. The groom, mounted on a small horse and surrounded by his friends, closed the procession.

End-to-end the entire ceremony, the groom kept a handkerchief over his mouth. At the bride’s house, the bride washed the groom’s feet, an act symbolizing faithfulness. The pair then sat under a colorful awning and each ate of a special dish of glutinous rice covered by thin layer of palm sugar.

The couple pecked absently at their food-obviously, their minds were on other things. This symbolic act of eating together was the final phase of the traditional wedding ceremony.

Unlike some other parts of the Lesser Sundas, there was only a symbolic bride price in Tepal. Elsewhere, bridewealth could include herds of water ox, antique elephant tusks or prehistoric bronze drums.

Berempuk Boxing

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:22:00 +0000

The Berempuk, a ritual boxing match in the past designed to spill blood to appease the spirits, usually accompanies the rice harvest. Young men were whacking one another with much more enthusiasm than style, often drawing blood. Their efforts also attracted admiring glances from the girls in attendance.

Young men took in two groups, one on either side of an opera arena. There were no rules or round-robin matches. When the mood struck, a young would rip off his shirt, gather up a bunch of rice stalks in each fist, and do a little show-off dance, prancing around the arena.

Usually within a few seconds he would have an adversary, who then began strutting around and posturing himself. The two freelance “referees” would appear, and check the opponents’ hands, removing watches and rings-and making a point that there were no stones in the clinched fists.

After these prelims, the boxing would begin. It was really more alike flailing-a series of wild, roundhouse punches from right and left fields, most flying way off the mark but the occasional one landing with a resounding, skin-splitting whack. Once the adversaries had exchanged a few punches, they'd usually come in close, trading punches rapidly with absolutely no regard for defense or fending off blows. At this point, they'd have to be pulled apart by the referees, who usually received a few wild punches for their effort.

The Sanro

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:24:00 +0000

In Tepal, Sumbawa Besar, once told a curious anecdote about the soldiers crusading for Indonesian independence. There was a small town nearby famous for its powerful sanro, the priest-doctor. This priest-doctor, could make men ironclad by rubbing magical oil into their heads. Before releasing his “patient,” the sanro would test his work by whacking the man in the neck with a sharp-edged blade. If any blood came out, he repeated the application of the magical oil until the man’s skin was completely impervious to sword-or even bullet.

Before departing to crusade with the patriot army, young men flocked to see this sanro to gain supernatural protection for their bodies. Once they received the treatment, they prayed to the God and went off to crusade. Whether or not the bullets really sprang away the bodies hasn't been recorded. But the chronicle illustrates an important point about the Sumbawanese: beneath a strong belief in the old supernatural.

Many of the rite events of the old ways still performed, though no more in a ritual context. Water ox are still raced across the paddies, and young men still take part in the Berempuk, a ritual boxing match in the past designed to spill blood to appease the spirits. These events no longer are performed as part of an animist planting or crop cycle; but they still are surrounded by supernatural and the work of the sanro.

In a few parts of Sumbawa-among the Dou Donggo in Bima, and the people living in Tepal and Ropang in Sumbawa Besar-the traditional ways continue without apologia. In Tepal, weddings still follow elaborate patterns that involve wearing and displaying traditional heirlooms, the payment of (symbolic) bridewealth, and protecting the bride and groom from the work of evil sanro.

The Tambora

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:16:00 +0000

Sumbawa island is part of the volcanic northern chain of Lesser Sundas, and whilst activeness took place over the epochs, no single explosion seems to have been as dramatic as the Tambora Volcano eruption of 1815. According to The Guiness Book of World Records, this one was the greatest in acknowledged history. Over 150 cubic kilometers of rock and ash, including the top 3rd of the volcano, were propelled upward, leaving Tambora truncated, the now 2851-meter cone holding a huge caldera.

An estimated ten thousand people died in the blast, and perhaps one-half the island’s population died of starvation later on when a 5-centimeter-thick stratum of volcanic ash smothered all floras in a across-the-board area. The devastation was such that there are stories of parents at the time selling their children for three kilos of rice paddy.

In 1845, a Dutch geologist found large areas still completely belowground under fifty centimetres of debris. The explosion obliterated the Sanggar and Pekat realms, located on opposite sides of the large peninsula holding Tambora Volcano. Although the volcano has since behaved, the island’s volcanic tradition isn't by a blame sight a thing of the past. In 1985, Sangeang Island’s Fire Mountain turned active and forced the evacuation of its 3000 citizen.

Introducing Sumbawa

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:24:00 +0000

Though Sumbawa is threefold the size of Lombok, it holds just tierce the population. The island’s terrain is rough and hilly, and Sumbawa is blessed with no fertile plain suchlike the one gracing south-central Lombok. Some eighty-five percent of Sumbawa is too hilly to farm, but the fertile volcanic soil of the river vales yields bumber harvests. These vales were the site of many petty states, the island’s 1st political units.

Sumbawa is really two islands: Sumbawa Besar in the West, and Bima in the east. As a matter of fact, though outsiders name the whole island the Sumbawa, on the island this term is only used for the Sumbawa Besar. The two parts of the island are divided by both geography and speech. This division has been further reenforced by the historical influence of the Balinese in the west, and the Makassarese of South Celebes northerly. In a certain sense Sumbawa is the westernmost island of East Indonesia, that's, the 1st of the islands that never felt the direct influence of the Indianized cultures of Bali and Java.

Introducing Lombok

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:00:00 +0000

For better or worse, Lombok island has become Indonesian’s brand-new in destination. The almost 1000s tourists who annually travel to the island represent just a fraction of the number landing in Bali, but this figure is sure to rise as the many new hotels being constructed open for business. All the good beach properties, even in areas that are only accessible by landrover, have been snapped up by big business interests from capital of Indonesia.

The name ‘Lombok’ is said to come from a fiery red chili pepper, used as a condiment in Indonesia, although this mayhap a folk etymology. The Sasaks call their island Bumi Gora, which mean “The Dry Farmland,” or Selaparang, which is the name of an old East Lombok realm.

With a bit of poetic license, the bonnet-like shape of Lombok resembles the roof of a lumbung, the handed-down rice storage barn. The island reassures about eighty klicks north to south and about seventy klicks east to west. A prominent peninsula extends west from the south-west corner, and a smaller peninsula juts from the south-east.

Lombok’s area-4739 square kms-are both just slightly more lesser than Bali’s. And there’s a cultural connectedness between the 2 islands. Some Balinese live in West Lombok, descendants of eighteenth century invaders. Lombok’s Balinese maintain a network of temples and perform rites like their relatives back home. But other than this nonage the culture of the 2 islands is quite distinct. The indigens of Lombok, the Sasaks, are Moslems, and their art and religious life are quite different from those of their Hindu neighbours.

Lombok island is dominated by 3726-meter Rindjani volcano, Indonesia’s highest volcano and one of the highest points in the archipelago (4884-meter Puncak Jayakesuma in Indonesian New Guinea, is the highest.) Rindjani crowns a group of mountains that dominate the north-central section of the island.

There’re several clusters of small islands off Lombok’s coast, all called “Gili” from the Sasak word for island. Some are inhabited by fisherman and stray cattle, and the best known-Gili Air, Gili Meno, and Gili Trawangan, off the northwest coast-host hordes of young, mostly European holidaymakers.

Nyale Ritual of Lombok’s Kuta

noreply@blogger.com (Si Badut Cyber) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:04:00 +0000

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.