BAJAWA

BAJAWA-CENTRAL FLORES

Flores is one of the larger islands in the chain running west to east between Java and Timor. Bajawa is the harbor town for the small highland area along the southern coast where the coffee is grown. The coffee is reputedly of indifferent quality and is not seen much in the specialty trade. Royal Coffee, the importers, are gambling that this lot will change that reputation.

Bejawa is small and quiet town surrounded by mountains in the middle of the Flores island. Near the town, there are many places to see near the town such as villages(still retain their traditions / customs) volcanoes, hot spring, etc.

If you are traveling across the island of Flores you might want to spend a little time in Bajawa.

The villages of the Ngada all have a distinct layout, comprised of opposing rows of bamboo and thatch-roofed huts on either side of a broad courtyard -- the number of these huts depends on the number of clans in the village, and is a set number. In the courtyard are stone altars that serve as meeting places and for sacrificial ceremonies that almost always involve one or more animals (buffalo, pigs) getting their throats cut. Also in this courtyard are sets of totem poles (topped with a thatched conical roof) and miniature huts.

There is one pole and hut for the male and female aspects of their traditions. The huts on either side, that people live in, have a distinct roof that begins like a normal roof and then turns into a steeper, tall roof, which in turn is topped by either a little house (birdhouse sized) or a man holding a spear. The shape of these roofs are due to the fact that each hut has a 'spirit house' room in the middle -- a house in a house -- with a fireplace, bed, decorations, etc. The spirit house has a tiny opening and a very high roof, and this is where the Ngada believe their ancestors live. The spirit houses are very well tended, and also tend to have little shrines with portraits of Jesus near the doorway. By making it a holy place as well, conflicts with the tenets of Christianity can apparently be avoided. There is no doubt that they believe the spirits of their ancestors live in these houses, though. If a particular person was bad, or evil, breaking the various codes of conduct the Ngada have, then it is believed they will forever wander around the village, lost. People claim that sometimes they will see a cat change into a monkey, for example, and this is a spirit wandering around restless because they were denied entry into the peaceful confines of the spirit house.

The Ngada are an interesting sort. They are matrilineal and matriarchal, so the power rests in the hands of the women, and all property and inheritance goes through the female lines. In this, they are unique on Flores. Men join the clan of their wives, and can have more than one wife (I don't know what clan they are if different wives are in different clans). Women can marry more than once, but never more than one man at the same time. However, only women can end a marriage in divorce. When they do this, the women keep the kids and all property. There is also a class system involved that dictates who can marry who and what class the children will be, but it is cyclical and complex.

Some of the villages we visited were over 800 years old, and that was measuring from the time they moved from older sites up on hills. We visited one of these sites, or megaliths. Back in the old days they used to make the altars with huge slabs of stones, huge platforms surrounded by vertical slabs of rock as tall as a man.

Some of these were simply too heavy to move to the new locations, so were left at the old site (one presumes that they forgot how they moved them in the first place). The old sites are often still used on special occasions, but in general the 'newer' villages do not have altars that are as big and elaborate. As I said earlier, the number of huts in the village is limited by the number of clans. When the population grows too large, they move to a new place outside of the village. They are always part of that clan, however, and return to the original hut for special festivals, gatherings, ceremonies, and celebrations.

BAJAWA PLACE TO INTEREST.

Bajawa is located on the altitude of 1.100 meter above sea level and surrounded by volcano. This town is cool and clean. Each house always has colorful garden. Bajawa is also the center for Ngada people, one of the most traditional ethnic groups in Flores. Many people still live in their traditional houses. Traditional villages in Bajawa scatter through to the mountain.

The significant symbols of tradition amongst Ngada people are the pairs of ngadhu and haga. The ngadhu is male with parasol-like structure about 3 meters high with a man look on top having machete and spear on both of his hands. While bhaga is female with a hut-like. Both ngadhu and bhaga symbolized the continuing presence of ancestors.

Going to see the traditional villages in Bajawa area is fun, but for a real challenge, you should try and climb Gunung Inerie. It's tough and a little technical, but stunningly beautiful and you can do it in a (pretty intense) half day. That climb alone is worth the trip to Flores.

Although the vast majority of Flores is Catholic, many people still follow their old ways, by living in traditional villages and placing food offerings on megalithic stones, to appease their ancestor.

In the mountains, around Bajawa, the Ngada people still follow the law laid down by their ancestors. The Ngadanese are divided into set, clans, that have head chiefs and elders who decide over matters such as land-rights, funerals, marriages and other ceremonies.

PLACE TO VISIT :

In the district of Ngada the traditional habits have been kept better than in any other place in Flores. The residents are almost all Catholic, but they keep adding meaning to the megalith stones. They also maintain the ngadhu, a pawl which is seen as masculine which forms a couple with the bhaga, an ancestral little house which is considered female.

Only a few travelers seem to know about the rich culture of the capital of the district, Bajawa and surrounding villages. Most drive through it on their way to Ende, or only spend a night there. Whoever is interested in religion and culture should certainly spend a few days here.

Langa: ritual shrines
Near to Bajawa are two traditional villages: Langa and Bena. You can walk to them in one day. Try to get up early, because the summit of the impressive, but not active volcano Inerie is often obscured by clouds after 10 in the morning. Take the road to the south in Bajawa and turn left towards Ende on the main road. After a few kilometers there is a paved road on your right hand, which brings you to Langa in 2.5 kilometers.

In Langa, you can find a row of five ngadhu and four bhaga on the central square. The ngadhu, which symbolizes the male ancestors of a clan, looks like a beach sunscreen with a diameter of about three meters. With a roof of alang-alang (grass) and ijuk (fibers of a palm tree); the forked, thick stem of a tree, decorated with woodcarvings, is the supporting pillar. The shrine is crowned by a human figure, which holds a parang (harvesting knife) in one hand and a javelin in the other. Every shrine is surrounded by a stone circle. The Bhaga, a small hit with a roof of grass, is sometimes decorated with woodcarvings: under the entrance of the door, around the lower boarding and inside.

At different occasions the members of the clan - as a proof of honor to important persons - hold rituals to the right ngadhu and bhagapeo). In the past dozens of water buffalo's were slaughtered, nowadays just one. The background of this limitation is a governmental decree which wants the population to be protected from bad economics.

At other occasions which demand ancestral help demand the slaughter of a pig and a sacrifice to the ancestors of the clan in the form of food and pinang nuts. In Langa, the yearly, six-day ritual reba, starts on 15th January with a Misa Kudus ('Holy Mass'), followed by dances and rituals in traditional clothing.

Bena: cult-structures
An unpaved road of about 10 kilometers runs from Langa around the foot of Gunung Inerie. It descends towards Bena and offers a panoramic view over the cult-structures ngadhu, bhaga and peo. Bena is the center of the traditional religion of the area. There are no metal roofs here. Visitors still have to report in the visitor log.

The yearly reba-cycle starts in Bena on 26 December and then continues to other villages. Other rituals in connection to the agricultural cycle are held as well: the zoa-planting ritual in September or October, and the keti kua ritual in April or May. Another event, the uma moni or ana koka, is an honor to the ancestors which planted here first. At this event, a water buffalo is sacrificed.

The traditional houses of the Bena have steep, high roofs of grass. Some are crowned with the image of a warrior with a javelin and a parang, which looks like the one on the ngadhu; others with miniature houses which look like the bhaga. There are also several megalithic stones, sacrificing-or meeting places where the village elderly make their decisions which have anything to do with the relations with the supernatural.

At the end of the village you can find a shrine to Maria on a small hill, under a huge tree. There you can overview the Savu Sea. Near the entrance to the village a pension was built not too long ago. It should be a cheap place to sleep and eat.

Old Wogo: megaliths
From Bena, there is an unpaved road, a little better than the road between Langa and Bena, to the village of Mangulewa along the main road from Ende to Ruteng, about ten kilometers from Bena. A little to the east lies Mataloko, directly along the road. Here, an unpaved road takes you to the south towards Wogo, where you can find one of the best collections of ngadhu and bhaga of the district.

About one kilometer down the road you can follow the 200 meter long path towards Wogo Tua, 'Old Wogo', the original location of the village. The residents of Wogo have left here in the 1970's. You can find big megalithic stones, some hidden in the high grass, hard to find. The stones look mysterious and sad in the fog which is common here.

Soa: traditional boxing and Natural Hot Spring
Northeast of Bajawa, a road runs to Soa (22 kilometers) and Natarandong, 18 kilometers ahead. This road runs along Poma and becomes very bad beyond Wangka, about 40 kilometers ahead. From Wangka, it's still about 20 kilometers to the village of Mobras, which is located along the road which follows the northern shore of Flores. Mobras is located about seven kilometers east of Riung. During the dry season you can rent a jeep for the entire trip.

Soa, a group of villages in the environment of the district airport, has hot sources where you can bathe. There is regular traffic between Bajawa and Soa, especially trucks on Sunday evenings and Monday mornings, market day. A restaurant behind the market serves dog, locally named 'R-W'. This euphemism is bases on the Indonesian first characters of 'thin haired'. Not bad.

The area around Soa is reasonably traditional, but the ritual schedule is totally different than that of the villages around Gunung Inerie. The rori witu, the ritual hunt, lasts for a month, from about mid-October until mid-November. This deer hunt is an important event in the annual cycle; men on horse hunt down the animals with their javelins, women wash their hands in deer blood to raise their fertility.

The annual sagi-cycle, the traditional boxing, takes place in the first half of the year in several different villages. Human blood is always shed here. This form of fighting is also practiced in Boawae, 41 kilometers from Bajawa, along the main road to Ende. The boxing is held mid-June every year and is called etu. temples. They demand the sacrifice of a water buffalo, tied up to a stone pillar (