FLORES, A LAND OF INSPIRING CULTURE

 

It is the people that make Flores a dazzling gem. The uniqueness of Flores lies in its amazing wealt of cultures, languages and history. One of the explanations for these local varieties lies in the islands mountainous nature: it hindered access to the secured areas and made communication between the single communities difficult; thus preserving a huge range of long standing local peculiarities.

One of the remarkable cultural traits is the limitless local languages and dialects spoken by the Florenese who roughly belong to the major ethno-linguistic entities of Manggarai, Ngada, Nagekeo, Ende and Lio, Sikka and Lamaholot. Part of the Austro-Polynesian language family, the speech sound contribute to the history, cultural, and the traditional values passed on for hundreds years from one generation to another through the song sung from the ancient times the adat elders

Flores’ cultural richness is impressive and it is definitely worth getting off the main road to explore its appealing attractions. Until the present day the Florenese still perform sacred rituals such as Penti – the celebration of the harvest season and new hope in Manggarai; Reba – a week long traditional new year festivity for the new farming season  in Ngada; and GrenMahe – a ritual for thanksgiving and universal balance performed by the Tana Ai Clan in Kringa (Sikka). Singing and dancing in a circle all night long as the Gawi, Sanda or Dolo-Dolo as well as martial arts are an integral part of every adat ceremony. The western to the central part of Flores are famous for Caci – the well-known whip fight, or Sagi the exciting traditional boxing fight from Ngada.

Traveling Flores is a journey filled with endless amusements. Bena, Gurusina and the newly discovered Belaraghi and Tololela are the larger villages which are most celebrated for the divine history and traditional cultural values richly curved on the walls of the impressive everlasting-homes. Being agriculturalist, the Florenese still apply agricultural land tenure division displayed by the lavish Lingko of Cancar.

Savor Flores’ fascinating past and present way of life through ikat, an eloquent art of traditional weaving found in every corner of Flores. The time consuming process and the intricate patterns make ikat more than just a piece of cloth. Watublapi is one of the site remarkable for its gorgeous ikat whose glorious colors are created with organic dyes. Equally enchanting is the ikat from Lewokluo, which unlike others, is produced by the weavers who combine the cotton treads with shells handsomely interwoven to form unique ikat patterns.