Lake Malai
| Lake Malai | ||
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Low water on Lake Malai. Algae discolor the water. |
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| Geographical location | Suco Sanirin , East Timor | |
| Drain | the Savu Sea and Lake Hatsun | |
| Data | ||
| Coordinates | 8 ° 52 '44 " S , 125 ° 0' 38" E | |
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| length | 2 km | |
| width | 1 km | |
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particularities |
The lake falls almost dry in the dry season |
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The Lago Malai ( Tetum : Bemalai or Be Malae , "Be Malai" literally means "water" and "foreign" ) is a lake in East Timor Suco Sanirin ( Office of Administration Balibo , community Bobonaro ). The lake is said to have tourist potential.
geography
The lake is fed by several rivers from the northeast of the Sucos. From the lake, the water flows partly to the west into the Sawu Sea, south of Cape Fatu Sue , and partly to the north into Lake Hatsun in Aidabaleten ( Atabae administrative office ). In the dry season, most of the lake falls dry. The connection to Lake Hatsun also dried up. Several mountains with heights below 1000 m characterize the region: in the south of the lake the Cota Bo'ot and the Saniran , the Samono in the east and the Ingerhitoe and the Atabae in the north.
The lake is part of the Important Bird Area Be Malae-Atabae , an area of 3000 ha with forest and wetlands. Larger fish and shrimp and numerous saltwater crocodiles can be found in the lake . The latter are of great importance for the locals as mystical ancestors ( see also: The good crocodile ).
Culture
Two ethnic groups live in the region: the Atabae- Kemak in the north, the Balibo- Tetum in the south. Every four years on August 29th and 30th, a fishermen's festival takes place on Lake Malai, based on the myth of the lake's origin. Since then, the population has almost completely converted from the old animistic religion to the Roman Catholic faith , but the festival is still taking place. However, the date can be shifted if dead fish or shrimps are washed up on the shore. This is seen as a warning sign that the sacred natural energy ( Lulik ) needs rejuvenation. Therefore, for example, the festival took place on August 19th and 20th in 1960 and on October 7th and 8th in 2017. An additional festival is celebrated within this four-year cycle even when it rains particularly heavily. This is determined by the Rai lulik ( German holy ruler , the highest priest of the empire) of Balibo after consultation with the traditional rulers ( Liurai ) of Balibo and Atabae . The Liurais then call the population together to relive the myth and after the ceremonies go fishing for two days.
According to legend, there were once two great liurais in Atabae and Balibo who were fighting over the demarcation of the border in the region. Since they could not agree, a stick fight broke out between the two. During the fight, a very old woman appeared with a large jug of water on her head. The ruler of Balibo accidentally hit the woman's head. His stick broke in half and the jug was smashed too. The woman disappeared, but the water from the jug formed Lake Malai.
Web links
supporting documents
- Margaret JE King: Fishing Rites at Be-Malai, Portuguese Timor (report of a visit in August 1960), Records of the South Australian Museum, Adelaide, Sth Aust. : Govt. Printer, "From Records of the South Australian Museum, Vol. 15, No. 1, October 6, 1965."
Individual evidence
- ^ A b David Hicks, Making the King Divine: A Case Study in Ritual Regicide from Timor , The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Dec. 1996), pp. 611-624, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.
- ↑ Bobonaro District Development Plan 2002/2003 ( Memento of March 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 566 kB)
- ^ Timor-Leste GIS-Portal ( Memento from June 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b c King p. 110.
- ^ A b Birdlife International - Be Malae-Atabae
- ↑ a b King p. 111.
- ↑ GMN-TV: La kumpri kultura, ikan Be lakon hotu , October 9, 2017 , accessed October 10, 2017.