Idaté
The Idaté are an ethno- linguistic group with around 14,000 members in central East Timor . They have their center in the administrative office of Laclubar , but they also expand into Soibada in the south and the surrounding regions in the municipalities of Manatuto and Manufahi . In 2015, 14,178 East Timorese people spoke Idaté , one of the Austronesian Idalaka languages .
Culture
The place Laclubar Subdistrict is the cultural center of IDATE. The steep mountains form a small valley in the shape of a horseshoe around the center of the village. Forests with numerous small springs stretch out between the rugged mountains.
Many places such as springs, small caves, stones and hills are considered sacred (idaté: lulik ) and are therefore taboo . They must not be visited in everyday life, as this is considered dangerous. Madness and death threaten. The most important holy places are Susuk , a deep hole in the ground at the foot of the mountains around Laclubar, and Orlau , a spring in the forest on the main road that leads into the town center. Coffee is grown in its fertile environment and there are fruit trees. Although the majority of the population are Catholics, these two places are still important ritual places today, as they are regarded as entrances to the spirit world (idaté: lalamatak ). The sanctity of these places is taken up in ceremonies and brought to the outside world, for example to end wars. Although holiness is considered female, it is not assigned to any personified deity.
According to the popular belief, one can encounter the spirits of the land (idaté: larek-nain ) in the holy places . They take the form of pythons , eels or humans. These can be beautiful women, but also foreigners (idaté: malae ) with white skin and red hair. “Larek-nain” can be both the name of the spirits in the holy places, but is also the name for the indigenous people of the country and their descendants, the “people of the country” or the “landowners”. These are always equated with their own ancestors (idaté: luli'ain ). A distinction is actually made between spirits, ancestors and holiness, but these three levels often merge in ceremonies. The presence of these three manifestations is what makes the country so powerful.
According to the Idaté creation myth, at the beginning of time there was only Lulik , holiness. The spirits of the land then created the people and animals. Some ancestors came from the earth, others from stones. The land gave people gold and houses were built to keep them in. Their possession also represents the right to political leadership. Mixed with the Christian faith, God gave his blessing to this act of creation, but the land created the people. Since everything comes from the country, the people are an extension of the country, which is why the homeland has a special meaning for the inhabitants. The origins of the different clans are given by legends about the respective first ancestors, in whom they travel through the country to find their ancestral place to settle. Often the clan name refers to the place where the ancestors originated or where they first settled, so that the country, clan and people are united into one unit.
Some clans compare themselves to a banyan tree , a metaphor that is widespread in the Austronesian culture. The ancestors form the trunk or the base (idaté: uun ), the descendants the tree tops or the flowers (idaté: hunan ). The origin is the center of all things, which is also noticeable in other idioms. Laclubar is called the navel or liver of the world by the Idaté (idaté: larek usar , larek nau ), which practically expresses that mankind originated here. Nowadays the Christianized Idaté name Adam and Eve as their first ancestors . According to a creation myth, the island of Timor originated from a crocodile. Therefore, the Idaté refer to the west as the tail (idaté: hiak ) and the east as the head (Idaté: ulun ). The island's navel, called Balulin , is a hole in the ground at the foot of Mount Matebian , east of Laclubar. This sacred place is considered to be the place where the first ancestors were buried and the entrance to the world of the spirits of the underworld. The importance of Laclubar as the center of the world and the origin of mankind ties the Idaté in particular to their homeland. The claim to be the center of the world and the first inhabitant of the country also influences the relationship with other groups. The “indigenous people” see themselves as the ritual guardians of the country. Therefore, the land cannot be sold.
Founding myth of the Laclubar Empire
Independence from Samoro
With the Idaté there is a separation between ritual and political power, even if this is strongly interwoven. Lulik can be the origin of the claim to political power (idaté / tetum: ukun ). The holy land is said to have helped a man named Geraldo (his pagan name was Kei Tu ) to free his land from the domination of the neighboring kingdom of Samoro (Soibada administrative office). It is one of the most famous legends of the region. There are different versions of the legend. In the most common one, palm wine (idaté: nau buti ) was stolen from Geraldo's fields several times during that time . Geraldo ambushed the thief (in some versions it sent someone named Bita Loin to keep watch). But Geraldo fell asleep under the palm trees that night. When he did the next morning the palm wine was stolen again. The next two nights it was no different. Geraldo never managed to stay awake. So he cut his finger and drizzled lemon juice on the wound all night to keep him awake from the pain. Suddenly he heard a noise. He jumped out and called, “Who is it? Who is stealing my palm wine? ” At that moment a gold star appeared over him, saying, “ I stole your palm wine. How am I supposed to make good the damage? ” “ I don't want anything, ” Geraldo replied. “I don't want wealth or treasure. I only want one thing : independence ( tetum ukun-rasik-an ). ” So the holy land of Susuk , where Geraldo's palm trees stood, gave him fortune to make Laclubar independent from Samoro. Geraldo received the Portuguese title of nobility Dom and became Liurai , the ruler of Laclubar.
Dom Felis (his name is reproduced differently in different versions), the ruler of Samoro, was not happy about Laclubar's aspirations for independence. Geraldo and Felis therefore asked the governor of Portuguese Timor for an arbitration award in the dispute. It took Dom Felis three days on horseback to get to Dili , while Dom Geraldo, with the help of the Lulik , rode on "Brother Wind" to the colonial capital. To do this, he climbed into the hole in the ground at Susuk and immediately appeared at the governor's seat, in front of Dom Felis. The governor ordered Dom Geraldo to wash and change his clothes. Dom Geraldo then put on the governor's uniform, put on his hat and sat on the veranda. When Dom Felis arrived, he did not recognize Dom Geraldo and greeted him “Bondia, Senhor Governador.” (In other versions “Bondia, liurai.” ). The governor heard this and said to Dom Felis: "You have greeted Dom Geraldo, so you should both receive a flag and a drum." With the award of the drum and flag, Dom Geraldo was recognized as ruler of Laclubar and Dom Felis as ruler from Samoro. The fact that Dom Felis accidentally greeted Dom Geraldo as ruler is attributed to Fortune that he received from the Holy Land.
In some versions, Dom Geraldo's wife dies shortly after independence as a sacrifice for the Lulik. This shows the dangerousness of getting involved with the supernatural. Some versions see Bita Loin as the legitimate ruler, the servant who was supposed to stand guard instead of Geraldo. He is said to have been forced to surrender the claim to power to his master.
War with Samoro
Laclubar was tribute to Samoro. The tribute was paid in the form of cotton and beeswax for candles. However, Laclubar no longer wanted to accept this toll, which is why they only supplied a small amount and poor quality. Dom Felis was angry about this, gathered his best warriors and also called troops from the neighboring kingdoms of Same , Alas and Barique . Then they moved towards Laclubar.
Faced with the threat, the elders and priests turned to the holy land for help. Three elders celebrated rituals at the holy sites of Susuk and Orlau . An animal was sacrificed to feed the land, ritual words were spoken (idaté: sede ) and the “land spirits who live underground” were called ( idaté : larek na'in or ). This is also called “opening the country”. When the enemies reached Laclubar, an army of ghosts came from the holy land around Mount Maupe . Their battle cries keep from the mountains. The Idatés Laclubars themselves could not see the ghosts, but it appeared to the attackers that Laclubar was full of warriors. Samoros warriors fled in fear from the supposed superior force. After the war, the country had to be ceremonially "closed" again.
Historical background and consequences
Historically, the Laclubar empire first appears on the list of Afonso de Castro , a former governor of Portuguese Timor who listed 47 empires in 1868. Governor José Celestino da Silva names Laclubar 1896 as one of the empires that is not subordinate to another. In 1898 a Portuguese military post was established in Laclubar and at the same time the local ruler was given the Portuguese title of "Dom". Drums and the flag of Portugal , as well as uniforms and military ranks, were given by the Portuguese to local rulers during the colonial period as a sign of their status as vassal of the Portuguese king. In the Timorese tradition, the drum and flag became sacred objects and status symbols of the local rulers. Possibly this classification in the colonial administrative structure actually means the end of the supremacy by Samoro. Then, in legend, colonial submission would have been converted into a victory for local sovereignty.
The legend of the guardian spirits from Mount Maupe can be found in a story from the recent past. At the end of the occupation of East Timor by Indonesia , the population decided in favor of statehood in an independence referendum in East Timor in 1999 . Indonesian security forces and militias tried to turn the tide again with Operation Donner . But when they reached Laclubar, loud screams are said to have suddenly resounded throughout the sub-district of that time and the town and mountains were again filled with the ghost army. Assuming FALINTIL rebels would protect the place if the Indonesians had fled. The people of Laclubar would not have seen the ghosts. The fact is, however, that Indonesian troops and local militias came to the place, burned parts of the place and murdered several independence advocates. A contradiction to the stories told. An example of how legends are woven into contemporary events. 2006 from there in the now independent East Timor unrest and fighting between Timorese from different parts of the country. In Laclubar, the reason was seen in the fact that the country was not closed after the War of Independence. This ritual was carried out in Susuk in 2006 .
Even today, Dom Geraldo's descendants favor claims to political leadership. However, there is a dispute as to which clan is the true successor, as there were divisions. The role of Bita Loin also leads to differences of opinion. Several factions claim political and spiritual leadership and the holy places for themselves.
Web links
- Judith Bovensiepen: Opening and Closing the Land: Land and power in the Idaté highlands
Individual evidence
- ↑ Direcção-Geral de Estatística : Results of the 2015 census , accessed on November 23, 2016.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Judith Bovensiepen: Opening and Closing the Land: Land and power in the Idaté highlands , accessed on March 29, 2015.
- ↑ Timor Loro Sae: Um pouco de história ( Memento of the original of November 13, 2001 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ East Timor - Portuguese Dependency of East Timor ( Memento of February 21, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Geoffrey C. Gunn: History of Timor ( Memento of the original from March 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , P. 92, Technical University of Lisbon (PDF file; 805 kB), accessed on June 4, 2012.
