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Life is long if you know how to use it
​
(Seneca)

The Oracle

24/11/2017

3 Comments

 
​This man reads in the hearts
Picture
To learn more about him, see below.

In June 2017, I embarked on a motorcycle trip of more than 3000 kilometers from the island of Java to Sumba.
Picture
Java to Flores,return: 3332 kilometers
Picture
Road going to Waingapu, Sumba

​On the 1st of July, after a week's rest at Pondok Wisata Cemara in Sumba, I left this haven of peace by motorbike to go to Waingapu port. The owner of the hotel did not want me to go alone so one of his staff guided me to the port.
The road to Waingapu harbour was narrow and winding. It was dark even though it was only seven o'clock in the evening. A few times, our motorcycle headlights lit the eyes of the wandering buffaloes strolling in the middle of the road.
Picture
A surreal night trip among the beasts

Ferry from Waingapu to Aimere. A Night Trip.

When I arrived at Waingapu harbor, the ferry's lower and upper decks were already filled with passengers. I climbed to the second floor, straddling the passengers lying on the floors in the corridors. There were people in almost every nook and cranny of the ferry.
​I found a small, narrow space in a corner where I sat for six hours on the cold sheet metal floor.
At
four in the morning the captain announced our arrival at Aimere.
Picture
The engines were running well before the landing. People were eager to leave the ferry
​The drivers of the trucks, of the cars and motorcycles had started their engines
at least ten minutes before landing.
The lower deck was bathed in nauseating smoke and the noise was infernal.

From the port of Aimere to the village of Bejawa

​If you look at the map of Google that shows the 43 kilometers of road that goes from Aimere to Bajawa, it seems like a giant snake has guided the engineers. The road starts at sea level and zigzags to Bajawa at about 1100 meters above sea level.
Picture
Road Aimere to Bejawa
Picture
Lucas Lodge at Bejawa / Carl and Risky
In Bajawa, the body heat I had accumulated in Aimere quickly dissipated because of the cold mountain air. When I arrived at
Lucas Lodge I had a throbbing headache and I was shivering.
I quickly went in, booked a room and asked for hot coffee. I sipped my coffee Bajawa Flores with delight, thinking that I would retire to my room and rest until the next day.
BUT......
Picture
Risky and Carl in traditional Flores sarong
…A young man named Risky sat down next to me. Risky was the owner's son.
He told me that a ceremony was taking place in a village nearby.
"Oh no," I said to myself. Carl, you need rest. Do not leave ".
But nothing to do, an hour after my arrival, I was at the house of Risky where he dressed me with a traditional sarong of Flores. Then off we went to attend the ceremony.

Ceremony to celebrate a newly built house

​Risky and I arrived at the ceremony when the men were sacrificing the pigs.
Picture
More than 22 pigs were sacrificed
The way the animals are brought to death is not something I liked to see; but to be polite and show the owners and guests that I was honored to be part of their ceremony, I started taking photos.
The camera acted as a sort of shield hiding my feelings of pity.
Picture
Cleaning the skin with fire
Picture
Ready to be cut up
The meat of the
​sacrificed animals
will be distributed to more than 300 people
Picture
The entrails are brought to
​the oracle
Picture
Picture
Several families bring presents
and
​baskets filled with rice for the guests
Picture
Some baskets of rice are decorated with the heads of the pigs.
​What a privilege!
I was invited to enter the new house.
The traditional houses of Flores are comprised of a central room that serves as kitchen,
​bedroom and room to receive family and friends.
​ 
The central room of the house in Flores is sacred and not just any stranger can have access to it.
Picture
Traditionnel Flores house
Picture
Two girls of the family posing in front of the main room

The oracle

 An Oracle is the one who knows that he knows nothing.
Everybody knows it. But all go along with this illusion.
As long as he predicts that the harvest will be good and the children will be healthy (C.V.)

The owners, seeing that I was a friend of Risky and that I participated in a polite and respectful way to the events, invited me to enter the central room of the house. When I climbed the three steps to the inner sanctuary, I felt extremely shy and privileged.
Picture
The village elders examine the entrails of sacrificed pigs

The room was dark and smoky

In the "central sanctuary" of the house, the owners were in consultation with some elders. Before them were plates in which were deposited the bowels of some sacrificed pigs.
Picture
The hearts and livers are carefully analyzed
Picture


​
​The oldest, the one, which seemed the chief, analyzes the shape and color of hearts and livers.

He is an oracle announcing the future of the family.
​

The owner and his wife smiled.
I think the omen was auspicious.


Back at the lodge,
Risky's mother served me a piece of liver cooked in a typical Flores sauce.
Looking at the contents of my plate, I wondered what the Oracle would have prophesied to me.
3 Comments
Pierre Tran
27/11/2017 08:23:48 pm

Anthropological photographic essay worthy of Claude Lévy Strauss. Flores, is this the place where they found fossils of the diminutive Homo Erectus?

Reply
Carl
27/11/2017 08:30:02 pm

Thank you for your comment mon ami Pierre. « Claude Levy Strauss», You put me in good company. Indonesia does have these mysterious still undiscovered places. You are right about the HOBBITS in Flores. Flores, one of my favorite Islands.
http://humanorigins.si.edu/research/asian-research-projects/hobbits-flores-indonesia

Reply
Mila B link
30/6/2022 04:25:47 pm

Nice post thankss for sharing

Reply



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  • Intro
  • Manual workers
    • Ayung River divers. Bali
    • Boat lifters. Jimbaran.Bali
    • Volcanic stone breakers of mount Batur. Bali
    • Dock laborers
    • Onion fields_Sumabawa Island
    • Salt flats_Sumbawa Island
    • Transporting fish from ship to shore
    • Women workers
  • Photo series
    • Cockfighting in Bali
    • Impressions at a batik workshop
    • Pelni ship passengers
    • Pelni ship porters
    • Solitary bechak drivers of Solo
    • Sulfur Carriers of Ijen volcano
    • Sumba Island >
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  • Adieu mes Aïeux
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    • The Biker and his bike
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    • Pasola-Sumba-Page 1
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    • Portraits- Indonésie- P 1
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    • Seaweed cultivation - Nusa Lembongan
    • Single Images- P 01
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  • Short stories
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