Jakarta Globe – AFP, Angela Dewan, Apr 02, 2014
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| Sumbanese tribesmen participate in the annual ‘pasola’ festival, a ritual mock battle on horseback in Ratenggaro village located in Indonesia’s island of Sumba. (AFP Photo) |
Ratenggaro,
East Nusa Tenggara. Two teams of tribesmen on horseback charge at each other hurling
bamboo spears in a thousand-year-old ritual on the Indonesian island of Sumba
aimed at producing a prosperous rice harvest.
Spectators,
their mouths reddened from chewing betel nut, scream them on from the sidelines
of the show in Ratenggaro village, reaching for their machetes when a rider is
struck at close range and the referee calls foul play.
The annual
pasola — which comes from the word “spear” in a local tribal language — takes
place over four weeks in February and March in western Sumba, an island in the
center of the sprawling Indonesian archipelago.
Traditionally
it was a barely disguised form of human sacrifice in which tribesmen would aim
to spill each other’s blood onto the fields. It has evolved into a mock-up of
such battles and people are not usually badly hurt, although accidental deaths
do occasionally occur.
The
spectacle attracts few foreign tourists — only around 10 were at the recent
pasola in Ratenggaro and up to 100 normally attend larger ones. But now
officials are hoping to use it to boost the economy of the desperately poor
island, which is dependent on subsistence rice and corn farming and woven
rattan goods that yield few profits.
“It’s a
major attraction and has huge potential for development,” said Bona Fantura
Rumat, from the tourism board of East Nusa Tenggara province, which includes
Sumba.
Despite its
pristine beaches, azure seas and traditional villages, last year Sumba
attracted around 2,500 tourists — compared to more than three million who
visited the nearby resort island of Bali. Rumat said plans are afoot to promote
the pasola more, improve infrastructure by building better roads and start
flights to more destinations in Indonesia to make Sumba easier to reach, as
well as to Darwin in northern Australia.
Adapting
tradition
The ritual
itself has already been adapted to make it more palatable to visitors.
In the past
it would typically end with a field drenched in human and horse blood, and it
was a great honor for local villagers to die while taking part. At the recent
Ratenggaro pasola, no one reported much more than a scratch and the villagers
now use blood solely from sacrificed animals, instead of a mix of human and
animal blood as they did in the past.
Before the
pasola, men in a darkened hut chopped off the heads of chickens, draining their
blood into buckets as a mystic chanted. A dog and pig whose blood had already
been drained were roasted on a fire, to be shared and eaten after the
festivities.
The spears
have also been blunted and metal tips removed. In Ratenggaro, policemen armed
with rifles ensured that no one was hacked to death — although a minor punch-up
still ensued.
There have
also been changes in the planning of the event. It traditionally only began the
day after a certain type of seaworm swam to the shore — which signified the end
of wet season and the beginning of crop planting — but now elders decide on the
date in advance so tourists have enough time to plan their trips.
They still
collect the worms, however — the more there are the better the harvest — and
the slimy blue and green creatures are cooked into patty cakes.
Risk of
swift Westernization
Despite the
changes, many Sumbanese believe the pasola is still as spiritually rich as ever
and have given a cautious welcome to the idea of increasing tourism.
“If there
is anyone who takes part in the pasola with an unclean heart, then harm will
come to them,” said Ratenggaro village elder Agustinus Pandak, wearing a bright
orange weaving wrapped around his head.
“They might
fall off their horse, be hurt when struck by a spear. But this won’t happen if
the rider is at peace with himself and his heart is full of love,” he said.
Pandak
added he was happy for steps to be taken to attract more people to the pasola,
“as long as it’s developed with respect to our culture.”
For many
foreigners who do make the journey to Sumba, the island’s underdeveloped
tourism industry is precisely what they like about it.
“If it
develops, I hope they go for dirt-cheap accommodation and luxury resorts,
because anything in between you’ll get a mass appeal and swift Westernization,
pushing every ounce of local culture out the window,” said Swedish backpacker
Christoffer Kullman, 26, who was at the Ratenggaro pasola.
His travel
companion, Linus Strandholm, experienced at first-hand that the modern version
of the pasola is not entirely safe — he was struck in the chest by a spear and
hit in the head with a rock.
“I’ve saved
the rock as a souvenir,” he said, adding it was all part of the experience.
Agence France-Presse
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