Sumba Island

South of Flores, between Sumbawa and Timor there is an island where the traditional customs are among the best preserved in Nusa Tenggara. This is Sumba, a relatively large island, 11.153 sq. km. with a population that reaches about 600.000, the name of the capital is Waingapu. Much of the island consists of a flat, elevated plateau about 600m above sea level, where the coast is mostly steep and rocky. The island is divided in two regions, west and east, along ethnical and cultural borders.

Hinggi East Sumba Traditional Ikat

Hinggi, a traditional ikat cloth, is one of East Sumba’s foremost material culture. As a component of the East Sumbanese traditional man’s dress, hinggi is visually impressive. Its patterns display attractive motives, decorative and symbolic, that depict religious conviction, power, wealth, status, honor and gender prestige, based on local and foreign sources that comply to traditional standards of quality. Intrinsically it indicates hinggi’s central role in social and ritual context, making it a highly prized item among the East Sumbanese, a matter that has been taken place since ancient days, and the international audience as well.

Throughout its long history, the making of the hinggi came in contact with outside powers i.e. through trade, colonialism, education, and industrialization, including today’s international tourism. From a cloth that functioned to serve the internal culture of its producers, hinggi became a commodity for outsiders that consequently affected its aesthetical aspects. Hinggi’s patterning went through changes towards new forms adjusting to external demand, especially for the past 30 years, resulting in salient differences between hinggis made for sale and those made for internal use. Significant visual changes are that of the introduction of secular designs depicting local cultural themes such as ceremonies and mock battles, conveyed in realistic expressions with smooth lines in a coinciding asymmetric configuration within a narrative set up, replacing traditional spiritual iconography which is relatively stylistic, abstract and stiff, in a diametrical symmetric setting with no expository relation.

New hinggi designs principally sprung up from three main themes i.e. the papanggang, a spectacular burial ceremony carried out for personalities of high social status; the pasola, a ceremonial (in the past real) battle between opposing parties; and the palai ngandi, a folk tale about the groom’s kidnapping of his bride. The three themes are presented in numerous variations, partly in combination with traditional symbolic motives, which now play a minor role in the overall configuration, besides the many more without them. However, the new designs have no role in East Sumba’s tradition. Traditionally designed hinggis continue to exist due to their importance in the East Sumbanese internal culture.

East Sumba Island – Ikats and Textiles Tradition

East Sumba
East Sumba has a different climate, it is more dry and mountainous, and the people here belong to one single ethnical group with one common language. Waingapu, the capital, is located here and is a hub for transport to and from the island. There are some facilities here, but the main attractions are located west and southeast on the island. Some traditional villages are located southeast of Waingapu.

This region is better known for its “ikat” weaving. Traditionally only members of the highest clans and their personal attendants only used for special ceremonies and ikat. During important funerals the corpse was dressed in the finest textiles to make a good appearance in the afterlife, and piles of extra textiles was often sent with the dead as well. Later the Dutch started to export ikat to Europe and Java, where it quickly became very popular. Other products from here are horses and cattle. Horses are still used for transport on Sumba and are a symbol of high status; the large grass fields in the interior of the island are well suited for horse rising.

 

Handicraft:
Aside from ikat you can get others artifacts of primitive art in Sumba: Wood carvings, sculptured stones, lime containers, traditional jewellery (Mamuli,Marengo,Tabelo), basket work, long knifes( Parang), traditional bag(Kalieku), primitive musical instrument, household items and artefact for fishing or hunting.
There are 45 different clans (Suku) in Sumba and each one has their own Marapu and their own invisible spirits.

In a traditional Sumbanese house (Uma), you can find wood or stone carvings which are images of Marapu even human or animal representation.
In such house the are four pillars: one for men, one for Marapu (ancestor ) one for women and the last one for articles of value (spears, long knives, weawings, jewelry) and special plates, special earthen waterjar for Marapu. In some villages, you can still see skull trees dating from the time they were headhunters.