Animism in Sumba

Sumba is an island situated in the Indonesian archipelago that still conserve its animistic traditions. Here we can see some information about this island and manage to know more about animism, dualism, and many of its traditions.

1. What features animism define the believings of Sumba?  
The animism features that mainly define the believings of this island are those situated in the houses. First of all, each house has three floors: the first, for animals; the second, for humans; and the third, for the spirits, which are called "marapu" by the inhabitants of Sumba. Moreover, this houses are made of straw mainly, because stone is preserved for doing tombs mostly. Furthermore, it is remarkable that houses are decorated with animal craniums and paintings of cockatoos and horses, which are consedered spiritual animals.

2. Who is ratu for the village? 
He is a sorcerer or chieftain and the inhabitants of Sumba usually call him the worm's priest because of an ancient tradition they have related with this animals.

3. Which are the examples of dualism that appear on the video?
The division between men and women in the houses; the round walnut and the phallic husk; the ground and the seashore, which represents life and dead, day and night, and the change between seasons; and the central tree of the village, that also represents life and dead: life because of its fertility, and dead because the burials take place under this tree.

4. Explain the universal symbols that appear in the video and how they adapt to the believings of the village. 
The tree: because they are axs that conect Earth to heaven, in this case, it is also the center of the village.
Water: that surrounds the island os Sumba, in which the inhabitants of this place bath at the beginning of every year in order to renovate their souls.
The moon: which represents a cycle, days and nights.
The stones: they use them to make the megaliphic tombs because they last over time as well as souls do.
Although this are the main universal symbols they have, some others as sky or sun also take an important part in their belivings.

5. Explain the symboles of the house, what parts they have and how thay decorate them. 
Each house have three floors: the first for the animals, the second for men and women and the third for the marapu (the spirits) so they can be near the sky. Moreover, they decorate the houses with craneums of animals they have hunted and drawings of cockatoos and horses, which are considered spiritual animals by the inhabitants of Sumba.

6. Who is marapu? 
Marapu are the spirits that surround the village as well of those of the antecesors of the inhabitants of Sumba.

7. Explain the symbolism of the loom and explain the drawings of icats.
The icats are the clothes that the inhabitants of Sumba weaved. In them, it was expressed all the history of the island, as who the marapu are, their colonizations, etc; everything relevant for the history of the village.

8. How do the Sumba announce the new year? 
With  a collective catching of worms of sea. Every inhabitant of the island goes to the beach at the beginning of the year in order to catch as much worms of sea as they can. The more woms they obtain, the better year and the more fertile the ground will it be , so all effort a lot in order to find as much as possible.

9. Explain the symbolism of Pasola. 
Pasola is a fight between to two rival clans that takes place in order to fertilice the ground with blood. The members of both clans fight by horse, using spears to hurt the other. A good Pasola is that in which a lot of blood falls to the ground as it symbolises the fertilization of the ground and, as a consequence, a good year. For this reason, the ratus won't stop the fight until a lot of blood is spilled , so they can ensure a good rice harvest.

10. How does ratu tell the future to the village?
The ratu can predict the future by the ammount of sea worms that people catch at the beginning of the year. If there are a lot of sea worms, the year will be good, if not, it will be a bad year.
A part from this, he killed a hen and looked at its innards; if they were well, it will be a great future, on the other hand, if they weren't, something wrong was going to happen.