The myths and Legends of Alor, East Nusa Tenggara
Originally published in Bali and Beyond Magazine, June 2011
Everyone
knows that the map of East Nusa Tenggara, the chain of beautiful and culturally
diverse islands to the east of Bali, could be marked with the words “here be
dragons”. Komodo, the first landfall in the province for travelers coming from
the west, is famed for its huge reptiles. But if local legends are to be
believed there are more dragons far to the east at the other end of East Nusa
Tenggara, in the remote island of Alor…
Alor
is the last link in the stepping-stone chain of islands that runs all the way
east from Java. On the map it’s an insignificant place, smaller than Bali and
dwarfed by neighboring Timor. But this island, with its fringe of white beaches
and its dark, myth-filled hills, is one of the most culturally intriguing
islands in all of Indonesia, and a place with more than a few wild stories to
boot…
Alor
was once the preserve only of travelers prepared to brave fifteen-hour rides on
overloaded ferries, but these days, with daily flights from Kupang, there’s a
nascent tourism industry. The majority of visitors who step down at Alor’s
little airport are there to dive in the deep, clear waters that surround the
island. But this is also a spectacularly rewarding place to explore traditional
villages, and to dabble in the weird and wonderful mythology of the Alorese
people.
***
Alor’s
capital is the little township of Kalabahi at the head of a long, narrow bay
flanked by steep green hills. Kalabahi is the best base for exploring the
surrounding countryside, and you don’t have to travel far beyond the town
before you run into the first traditional villages.
At least part of the reason why Alor is so
culturally complex is the staggering linguistic diversity. Though the total
population of the island is well under 200,000, as many as 17 totally separate
languages are spoken here and on neighboring Pantar, and distinct dialects are
numbered in the hundreds. Locals like to say, without too much hyperbole, that
in Alor every village has its own language – and every village has its own
unique myths too.
But
there are some connecting threads that unite this Babel-like island.
Inland
villages are mostly Christian, while on the blue shoreline Muslims predominate.
But for both communities dowries are paid with moko drums. These bronze
kettledrums are thought to have originated in the ancient Dongson civilization
of northern Vietnam. No one knows how they got to Alor – but locals will tell
you they appeared, fully formed from the ground! Another island-wide emblem is
the circle of stones at the centre of each village. Known as a misbah, this is
the place where the heads of enemies taken during warfare were once placed –
for Alor has a violent history. Supposedly pacified by the Dutch in the 1900s,
in fact clan wars and even headhunting continued well into the 20th Century.
Today there is peace, but the misbah is still the focus of the lego-lego, the
Alorese circle dance held to celebrate weddings and other ceremonies.
Alor’s
most famous traditional village lies about 15 kilometers east of Kalabahi. The
ridge-top fastness of Takpala stands at the end of a steeply rising track
through the trees from the coast. The roofs of the houses rise to great peaks of
shaggy thatch over platforms of smooth bamboo. Disks of wood stop mice from
climbing the foundation poles to get at the food stored above, and in the high
roof space the villagers keep their mokos and other sacred heirlooms. Locals
work farming little plots cleared from the steep slopes where they grow corn,
tobacco and cassava. From the edge of the village a sweeping view of the ocean
opens, with the dark hills of Alor’s northwest peninsula rising to the left.
Up in those hills, where of course the local
language is wildly different from the Abui tongue spoken in Takpala, you’ll
find more traditional villages, and you’ll also run into the first tales of
dragons.
Monbang, just a few steep kilometers uphill
from Kalabahi, is another village of tall thatched houses. The name of the place
means “Village of the Dragon”, and at the peaks of the rooftops there are
simple carvings of a serpent-like creature. In Alorese tradition, these
carvings represent the guardian spirits of the community in the form of a
dragon.
Beyond Monbang a potholed road leads through
the cool green shade of the forest. White churches stand in little clearings
and there is a smell of wood smoke and fresh coffee. The road leads eventually
to the peaceful hilltop of Omtel, the highest spot in this part of Alor, and
location of what locals claim is the grave of the first man in the world – a
20-metre-tall giant!
But the best place to chase tales of dragons
is in the villages on the cobalt-blue shores of Kalabahi Bay. In the little
Muslim fishing communities here the dragon is more than just a myth. Locals
swear that a great scaly beast really does live beneath the waters of the bay,
and if you ask around you’ll probably meet someone who claims to have seen it.
The cultural focus of the coastal communities
is the village of Bampalola, on a high mountainside with spectacular views
across the bay to the little conical island of Pura, and to the dark hills of
Pantar beyond.
Bampalola
itself is a modern village, but a path through the terraced maize fields leads
to the spectacular ceremonial complex of Lakatuli. This spot, occupying a
perfect defensive position at the end of a razor-sharp ridge, hints at the
troubled past of Alor. Today no one lives in the village, but its fabulously
decorated traditional buildings are still the scene of ceremonies tied to the
harvests and the changing of the seasons. This is a place of rituals that long
predate the arrival of either Islam or Christianity in Alor. The buildings,
raised above the ground on thick wooden posts, are decorated with elaborate
carvings, picked out in white, black and ochre, and there are dragons carved
into beams and joists.
There are more dragon carvings downhill in the
villages of Alor Kecil and Alu Kai, as talismans over doorways, as motifs woven
into ikat cloth, and as a mythical presence in the waters offshore.
According to clan elders the people of this
part of Alor are descended from a man who rose fully formed from the ground –
like the moko drums – in Bampalola. He descended to the coast where he married
a princess of the Sea People, a clan of mermen who, the story goes, still have
their own villages in the depths offshore. And the dragon, which rose from the
ground before the first man, is the guardian of the community.
At the end of the stony little peninsula that
juts out like a crooked tooth at the mouth of Kalabahi Bay, on a shoreline of
scaly black basalt rocks, is a shrine to the dragon. Decorated with carvings, this
is a place where the people of Alor come to seek the power and protection of
the beast, bringing offerings of coconuts and freshly slaughtered chickens and
goats.
Just
offshore stands the little islet of Pulau Kepa, location of some of Alor’s best
dive sites. With all those stories of dragons and Sea People, even those who
come to Alor in search only of bright corals, manta rays, sharks and sunfish,
would be well advised to keep an eye out for even more fabulous beasts in clear
depths of the bay…
©
Tim Hannigan 2011
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