Travel to Indonesia

Adat, a house of forefathers

Some tribes, like the LIO, are building small wooden huts, covered with straw, where their forefathers live. Those that have been regularly kept are over 500 years old. In front of the entrance, just under the roof, hangs a wooden boxes, with the bones of the oldest musalaki (a person, who can communicate with his forefathers), who enjoys a lot of respect in the society and general community. Musalaki and his family are the only ones, who may enter the hut unannounced and it is here a musalaki conceives a baby. Here he also communicates with the dead and proves his child is a worthy descendent of the family line. Upon birth a child proves this power by being able to cry for two minutes without interruptions, inside the house itself at the height of five meters. If the test is not successful they take the newly born out, bang its head against a banana tree and try the test – it’s the not-a-day old baby’s last chance to prove the power.

We were welcomed to the village by our friend and host, he himself was the 15th generation musalaki. He allowed us to spend a night in an Adat, making us only the fourth group that has spent the night inside the Adat in the past five hundred years, but we had to sacrifice a chicken first, so the musalaki would get the approval of his forefathers. He invited us to have diner with him, and while we ate somebody from another village took our stuff from the van. When the musalaki realized that in the late evening hours, he alarmed the whole village and all able men went to find the thief. Three women were against this decision out of pure emotional and irrational reaction and their families were banished from the village. Without any argument they left the village next morning. Still the night was very tense and none of us got any sleep. Men werwe running around the house, debating with were rugged and unusual voices, about the thieves and women were yelling and screaming, and later on they all debated about the three banished families. We were full of worries, if somebody would attack and slaughter us or at least burn the hut down? Although we haven’t done anything, our presence was strongly felt in the village – three families had to move out of their homes and the search for thieves continued (the found some of the things 3km outside the village). It is also to be expected some sort of a ceremony had to take place, to abide the spirits, and every such ceremony is a big financial undertaking. Depending on the importance of the ceremony, an appropriate animal has to be sacrificed (a buffalo is the most valued animal with its price reaching up to €10.000), and usually it takes more then one to set the spirits to rest.

A drum with human skin and Caci

Mangarai were divided and lived on two islands. Sumbawa was a realm devoted to Islam, Floresu was a Christian realm. In the village of Todo (on the island of Flores) lived a beautiful girl that was to marry the king, but she was kidnapped on one of raids and brought to the king on the island of Sumbawa. They fell in love, but the king of Flores sent his men to find her. The girl used magic to deceive them and made her face look really old, but with the help of forefathers they she was found. It was decided she should not belong to either king, so they killed her, tore her stomach up and stretched her skin over a drum. This drum is today in the Adat and is used only in the most important Mangarai ceremonies.

The most famous ritual is Caci, a duel with whips, which usually takes place twice a year (at the beginning of the rain period when they start planting rice and to celebrate the independence – and at special occasions). A duel consists of two parts, one attacks with a whip – the masculine symbol and the other defends himself with a round shield and some sort of a bow – a feminine symbol. The aim of the duel is to hit the opponent in the eye, to blind him and diminish his worth in the general population, but at the same time to prove the humility of the living man. The whip is made of buffalo leather and each hit means an open wound that the local musalaki heal later on, until it becomes a healed scare. As the only guests we had the unique privilege to take part of the Caci. They allowed me to strike the first hit. If I hit the opponent the Caci will be bloody, otherwise it will not more moderate, depending on the initial motivation. I took the whip and threw it in the air, so it made a whistling sound and repeated this, until I confused my opponent and then hit a full blow at my opponent, who partially blocked it, but got a scare on the hand. Then the duel had really begun. Usually the duel takes part between neighbouring villages. They are described as barbaric and the state doesn’t approve of them, to some extend they are even prohibited. We saw the passion in the eyes of the duellers, and their devotion to their forefathers. At the end of the duel, there wasn’t a single fighter without a wound. Bleeding chests backs and arms were all over the place. The fights are always accompanied by a ritual in order to inform the forefathers of their intention, they sacrifice an animal and a choir of singers encourages the fighters, by singing animist songs and playing the gong.

A duel with rattan sticks

On Lomboku live Sasaki, the indigenous inhabitants and descendents of former Sasaki kingdoms. Back then a beautiful Mandalin, every king wanted for himself, lived there. To prevent an all out war for the girl, the kings agreed upon duels with rattan sticks (a wood much harder then oak). But the girl didn’t want to be the cause of the duelling, so she took a boat and went to southern seas, where she committed suicide. But the duel remained and became an important ritual in the life of every Sasaki, who proves his bravery by duelling from the early age on. The duels are a part of the ritual and before each beginning the musalaki goes to the top of Rinjanija (one of the tallest and still active volcanoes, with a turquoise lake), where the forefathers live and asks them for their strength. At the same time he prepares oil made from the grass that grows there, as an ointment for the wounds made in the duel. Each duel lasts three rounds, unless it’s finished early. Before the duel the fighter gathers musalaki’s spiritual strength and wraps around the head and waste a cloth with the strength of the forefathers, takes the shirt off and awaits his opponent. The blows are so fast, you can’t see the sticks, but you can hear them and the blows are so strong the sticks often break. To make the final effect even stronger, the sticks are wrapped in leather, to make each blow an open wound. In the rage of battle a fighter doesn’t feel any blows, just wants to hit as many times, beat the opponent and make the soil red with blood.

Accumulated power of the forefathers in the KRIS

People with special powers, who were also magicians, heated an iron rod in the fire. When it was hot enough, they knitted the iron with bare fingers into a special sword KRIS, chanting magic chants in the process, to make a spiritual weapon that’s also a lucky charm for its future owner. Kris eventually became a part of traditional male clothing and was passed down from generation to generation. Believing in animism and worshiping forefathers, they believed their power is accumulated inside the KRIS. Its power is still demonstrated every full moon and every Thursday, when the KRIS gives off a glow even though it’s in a dark room with no windows. It is also believed the kris has healing powers. Drinking water in which it was for twenty minutes, cures headaches. They communicate with the kris, but purely with their heart, for the heart can not lie – words can. Most islanders own a kris, but not every kris is suitable for everyone. To find the right one you need to place it under your head at night and the dreams (which need to be interpreted) decide upon the appropriateness of the kris. Every person knows for himself if the kris is for him or not. If it is not the right kris, the islander will try to exchange it (or get rid of it). In such cases a very rare thing happens in a village. It comes to an exchange of goods. A good kris can reach a price of a few thousand euros, but a good kris always looks bad and no part must be replaced, it may only be decorated, cleaned and maintained.

The small Sund island are definitely a different world, completely unknown and inexplicable to us. A person lives to satisfy the hungers of forefathers and every man spends half a life or more to pay for the worship of the forefathers. People find this more important then any kind of earthly life. The most important rituals happen at birth, marriage, death and beginnings and ends of rainy seasons. It is then a rare tourist might get to witness their strange, but to them very important, rituals, that decide upon their tribal fate and quality of life.