Bena traditional village, Flores

Bena traditional village, Flores

Having spent a week in Flores, and seen lots of volcanoes, rice fields and poverty, I opted for a change of scenery. So I visited a village that maintains the way of life, the traditions, and the animistic beliefs (spirit and ancestor worship) of the ancient Floresians, with few modern influences.

I took the typical form of transport - the back of a motorbike taxi - to Bena village, near modern Bajawa village, passing round the base of the perfectly symmetrical cone volcano Inerie (just like a young child's drawing of a volcano) and by wild bamboo, cinnamon trees and clove bushes. My driver, Wilhelmus, was the ideal guide as he lives in a similar village and is full of animistic knowledge.

To keep with the theme of pictures of volcanoes in all my other Indonesia blogs, here's the lovely Gunung Inerie

At the village 'reception' I handed over 7 sketch books I'd brought as a gift to the village's children, to the badminton-playing chief. He looked a bit miffed. Then I noted a shelf-full of similar books on sale in the village shop. Apparently the village children who receive such donations sell them to the village shop to sell to tourists to donate to children to sell to the shop.........

Bena may be as old as 900 years, and was likened by some tourists who'd done South America to what Macchu Picchu would have been like when it was more than just stone walls.


A Flores Macchu Picchu?

The houses are in 2 rows facing each other across the village's central communal area, less than a metre from the neighbours to demonstrate close ties. The houses aren't owned by the currently inhabiting family, but by the ancestors who built them. And rather than build new houses or incorporate modern styles, their present-day descendants maintain the original style in respect to the ancestors.

In the village's central area are 'ngadhu'- tall poles supporting conical thatched roofs of black palm tree 'hair'. They are adorned with knives, spears and buffalo skulls and are male symbols to preserve fertility and ward off sickness. On the recent death of an old woman (people may live to 100 years), 25 pigs and a buffalo were sacrificed and the blood offered [to the ancestors?] at this ngadhu:


An ngadhu male fertility symbol, and kid

Also in the village clearing are: some female fertility symbols - small houses (3 x 2 x 2 metres) as the village female's role is with the home; clusters of tall thin stones that mark ancient graves, and surprisingly, a couple of Christian-style graves. All are maintained with the 5000 rupiah donation the tourists must make on entering the village.

Animistic (old - the tall, sharp stones) and Catholic style graves

Walking along the fronts of the wood and bamboo thatched houses, many toddlers yelled, "Hello Mister", and some of the women 'hello' smiled. I saw few men, as they were working in the fields or tourist related jobs in the nearby modern villages. When not housekeeping or child-rearing, the women weave intricate sarongs on traditional looms of wooden planks across their laps, that they slide footwards after passing a length of thread between layers of otherway-facing threads. It looked tedious and arduous; apparently so as a 2 x 1 metre piece of fabric takes 2 months to create. The sarongs are sold by many houses and they income pooled and shared by the village.

A Bena woman 'in' her loom

"Children go to a local school but the quality of education isn't high. Though they don't need to learn much anyway", Wilhelmus informed me. "People aren't tempted by outside influences to leave the village. They believe the longer they stay, the more good luck they will get. So they just need to read and write and learn a little about technology."
"What aspects of technology?"
"Like how to increase the crop yield, and how to use a telephone in a telcom office."

Other simple beliefs the villagers live by are:
'help others' - the village is a co-operative of 9 clans, each clan head's house marked with a voodoo doll-like wooden carvings on the roof;
'never speak negative gossip about others' as it doesn't help the village.

Sounds idyllic!

Wooden figurine marking a clan chief's house

The village still follows its ancient matriarchal system. On marrying, a man leaves his family (not the family home but the family) and moves in with his bride's, giving all the rewards for his future toil to them and taking on their family name. Any material wealth or land he'd earned before marrying he hands over to his sisters. This system is to show the respect deserved of the village females and so that a widowed female never loses her place in her family's hierarcy, as she would if left her family on marrying and hence lose everything along with a deceased husband. Also, as it is the female who remains to care for the elderly parents, she could never leave her family.
In complete contradiction though, the official faith of the village is good old patriarchal catholicism, emphasised by the graves bearing crucifixes and 'RIP's. When I asked Wilhemus how the village can adopt and fuse these two systems, and animistic with biblical beliefs, he gave a wry smile and answered, "It makes an interesting mix".

The view from the far end of the village's communal area, towards the sea

For anyone ever thinking of visiting Flores, William Doi is the ideal tour guide - 085 239 043 771.