The first time I saw pictures of Wae Rebo, I was fascinated with the traditional conical straw houses in picturesque valley in Satarmese Barat, Manggarai. Although I always knew that this particular village would embody the duality of tradition and progress in West Flores, I was surprised to learn what it really meant.
A walk into the past
, the remoteness of the location, the visit made a little more expensive than what I was used as a budget backpacker, but friends told me assured that it would be worth every penny. My visit in mid-December was only a ceremony of one of the eight traditional houses in the village officiate renovating together.
one night in the coastal village Dintor After, my partner and I walked 4 hours to Wae Rebo, a few hours before dawn. The 7.3 km long serpentine path is suitable for beginners hikers, but still requires good physical condition. The steep slopes are muddy in parts and rocky in others, and are slippery when wet.
"The journey will be hard," said our guide Martinus Anggo as we took a water break. "The old path used harder. If it is not difficult, there was to get, Wae Rebo would long gone."
Martin, a native of Wae Rebo, owns the Lodge in Dintor. He studied in the Philippines and spent working before to Satarmese Barat return the elders of Wae Rebo animate the village the difficult economic situation to help years in hotels in Labuan Bajo.
Wae Rebo natives assert offspring pre-Islamic Minangkabau to be on migrants from west ~~ POS = TRUNC 20 generations or about 1028 years. The community, lead currently preserved by Chief Alexander Ngadu old Sumatran animistic traditions of the Manggarai, West Flores.
A culture of peace and cordiality
have mingled to Wae Rebo input presented Martin my partner and me in hard house, and each of the elders shook our hands to be present name. After paying our relationship with their ancestors, we arrived outside a ceremony for blessing, the materials for the renovation of the traditional house, and another to see the construction of the main pole of the house on the ground.
The community had started to collect materials for the renovation in November. The materials were collected from the neighboring mountains. In each place, was cut on the wood, prayer rituals were performed to ask the permission of the local spirits of the woods.
in mid-December, the materials in the center of Wae Rebo were easily collected. "Collecting wood from different places is to unite as people from different countries and nations - cultures, backgrounds and personalities," Martin said. "If the people to unite in one place, we have peace among them."
chickens and a pig was taken as a sacrifice of peace for the spirits of the woods, slaughtered from which the wood for the house. "In this way, the spirits would return peacefully to their homes and let us use the wood for our homes," said Martin. is
called The main support pole house molos , the same word for Manggarai maiden . If the molos wood is brought to the village, for the same ceremony, the new wife of Wae Rebo man welcome from another village running. From the point where it until it reaches its origin, the village, the molos may not touch the ground. When rivers along the crossed molos 'travel is a ceremony with the spirits of the water, to make peace.
Martins generation is only to have converted to Catholicism third. Previously, the resilience of the community was dying to Christianity due to seeing other cultures Florenese in converting. After centuries of European missions, the municipality finally took Catholicism on command ancestral spirits receive them to practice next ancestor worship.
In the early 20th century, from living people their "Dutch East Indies government tried to ban primitive locals, paths" in Wae Rebo. The back-breaking access made it difficult to control the area for the government. "But the people of Wae Rebo are loyal to their ancestors more than they are in the government," Martin said.
At a glance, Wae Rebo seems to remain of the homogenizing forces of modern Indonesia immune and globalization. Village men proudly wear their colorful Manggarai-style Ikat Textile and Batik headgear as they tend their plantations and cattle, or collect materials in the woods. Women teach their children, local wisdom in the Manggarai language, about firewood cooking and clothing for the family weaving.
With a straw house able to accommodate up to eight families plus a supply of seasonal food, the culture of the village remains very communal. Unlike limited power in the evening, there are few signs of modernity in Wae Rebo. Currently there are no schools, hospitals, mobile telephone network, television and radio in Wae Rebo, although a children's library is under construction.
Nevertheless, the people of Wae Rebo relatively well trained and informed of the outside world because of its double Village Kombo in the lowlands. "Almost all the inhabitants of Wae Rebo have a house in Kombo, and vice versa. The census counts the inhabitants of the two villages as a" Martin said.
Add Kombo there is a boarding primary school for Wae Rebo children, and in Dintor School. Parents visiting children on Saturdays and attend mass there to study on Sundays. After the sale of their needs coffee and cloves in the lowlands market on Monday and shopping, they return to Wae Rebo for the week
"It is life like in two worlds. A semi-modern world in Kombo, and the primitive world in Wae Rebo. in the lowlands I wear shorts, but every time I come home, I'm wearing the traditional dress. It happens automatically, "Martin explains.
Due to this double life in Kombo, Wae Rebo children Bahasa Indonesia and some English are exposed today to television, pop music and culture. This relative ease of access in the lowlands mass media, in combination with the growing tourism industry, have inspired some young Wae Rebo natives to travel to distant places and to pursue a higher education or work experience.
is nevertheless a native of Wae Rebo, home is where the heart is. "Karma awaits the Wae Rebo native who does not return home, usually in the form of an illness or accident," Martin said.
A time of year where Wae Rebo Travel natives are expected to be at home, while the Wae Rebo new year. Penti is celebrated on November 16 to mark each year the beginning of the rainy season and pay respect to the spirits of local primary sources.
We leave with a formal farewell in ceremonial house. As we Kombo on the way out back to Dintor, in a modern interpretation of Wae Rebo house leave their games in the yard and came to our van to say hello at school children. A man from the ceremony in Wae Rebo was now dressed with them in shorts. In my heart, I hope the children will faithfully follow their parents footsteps in living the duality of tradition and progress, Wae Rebo make the special community that it is.
Wae Rebo Lodge
Dusun Dintor
Desa Satar Lenda
Kecamatan Satarmese Barat
Manggarai, Flores - NTT
Rp .0k per person per night - three meals a day Included; includes support, guide and tips. plan Required two nights and to hire a guide. 20 minutes drive to Denge, last point accessible vehicles before 7-km hike to Wae Rebo Dintor accessible by chartered vessels of Labuan Bajo and Ruteng, or the St. Yoseph "oto kayu" (Truck-Bus) of Pela.
Contact: Martinus Anggo +62 852 3934 4046
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