barefoot, long-haired man in dressed Ikat sarongs and ornate beads tend their gardens. The sun is strong, but the cool air makes up for it. There is no electricity or motorized vehicles in sight. They have wooden prayer altars, peculiar musical instruments and utensils made from coconut shells.
to be here, makes me ask what year it is-it could even 100 years ago.
Boti is a flowering in the isolated mountains of South Central Timor hidden small kingdom. Best known as a village known where local customs are alive seems to be unaffected today on a different level from the other parts of Indonesia, Boti by modern technology, the mainstream schools, Indonesian language, and Abrahamic or Dharmic religions.
men were in the garden socializing when we arrived. See my translator, Hesry, warmly greeted her like a long-lost brother, before her welcome to my cousin and stretches me. introduced Hesry one of them as Raja . He was working in the gardens next to the other men, but among his humble friendliness there was a touch of distinction from him.
Raja Namah Benu who rules in 05 after the death of his father, invited us to his place and areca nuts and betel leaves offered. I have heard to be on the Raja a strict guardian of Boti civilization against external influences, so he was in Boti a sobering experience.
The life revolves around religion Halaika that worships (to be received mother earth) and Uis Neno (Father in Heaven) Uis Pah. Not much is known about the history of Halaika, or how old Boti the current civilization.
"As humans, we are living on the ground, so that the earth throws us like a mother raises her children," Raja said. "We raise our prayers to Uis Pah on Earth, and they intervened on our behalf, to lift them to Uis Neno in the sky."
Halaika comes with its own agricultural calendar, the weeks are for 9 days, but there are no known studies on them by outsiders. The calendar covers three seasons plowing, planting and harvesting-all with ceremonies in a sacred forest believed the final resting place of the human soul to be.
"We do not believe human souls to heaven. Rather, they remain here on Earth," the Raja said. "We see them, give at night in our dreams we orientation, and that is the only way we meet them."
"If a newborn does not stop crying, it's because a deceased relatives visited him or her," added the Raja. "Then, when the parents of the deceased relatives dreaming, the baby is to be named after him or her, and then the baby will stop crying. The mind is now at peace knowing that he or she is the new life remembered Me. "
Four months later, pearls are draped on the infant, which means that he or she will take from now on clothes. If the baby is weaned, takes a different ceremony place where the hair of babies cut and given to the mother for souvenirs. Hair is believed that a sacred inheritance of their ancestors to be.
may include more milestones the opportunity to visit the Indonesian school, learn the agricultural traditions and marriage. There is no marriage, but there are dances with weddings connected.
When a man and a woman fall in love, the man who sends a gift of rice and chicken to the woman's parents, and the couple officially recognized as husband and wife. In Boti, marriages are monogamous and for life. Once a person gets married, the hair can not be cut, but has to be pulled into a bun. If a married person who gets a haircut, it usually means that he or she converted to Christianity, and would result in community alienation from Boti.
is marching in a country where compliance with a recognized religion (Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism) is a public matter, for most Indonesians to the beat of their own drum religious little choice. For the people of Boti but devotion to Halaika is a breeze, even if it means Christianity, oppose the predominant religion in Timor.
"We see Christians pray a lot, but when you visit the prisons in Timor are the inmates name Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, and they are there because they have stolen something," Raja said. "We can be nations, but you are not a person of Boti in prison for theft, corruption or terrorism. Find"
Crime is almost nonexistent in Boti, because the Community traditional welfare system. If a man steals a chicken, would suspect the community that the thief in desperate need of a chicken, and the Raja would members of the community go to this person to donate a chicken out of pity. The thief would then feel remorseful of his crime and remorse, no more stealing. Likewise, the community would not want anyone in Boti-whether we a native or a homeless visitors be.
"We can not worship" God "as most Indonesians understand. But we see God in our fellow human beings, and honor him or her accordingly," concluded the Raja.
On the way out, I said to my cousin, how special it was to witness Timor last indigenous religious community thrive in 2013. "It is special," he said, "but their world stops there in Boti , and that's all they know. your life is so simple and narrow, while the rest of the world moves on. "
Fortunately, not everyone thinks so.
In a world where indigenous peoples and their homes are quickly forced to disappear by "development" and assimilation with "mainstream" of modern society, Boti remains unusually steadfast in its traditions. After Nusa Tenggara Timur Lieutenant Governor Benny Litelnoni, there are no perceived external threats to Boti as the exploitation of natural resources or commercial tourism.
"Boti is a socio-cultural strength for NTT. The people of Boti would not abandon their traditional way for modern development, so that we help them to preserve their heritage with positive values, and the heritage makes for an invaluable, "said Litelnoni, who was until recently the Deputy Regent of South Central Timor.
whether in another 100 years the life could remain in Boti, as it is today, Litelnoni said: "Who knows That would depend on the people we can not predict what the future?. brings but so far, the people of Boti do not have the pressure of globalization and other factors added to the do not correspond to their values. "
pull quote:" be We Gentiles, but you are not one. find person from Boti in prison for theft, corruption or terrorism . "
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