Thursday, 6 June 2013 was a special day for us. We were invited to a sacred ceremony, a traditional ritual attended by kings from across the archipelago along with regional officials. We can arrange visits to Sembalun and the traditional villages around it through our Lombok tour packages.
The ceremony is called Upacara Adat Ngayu-ayu, and it is organised by the Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago). It turns out this is held once every three years, and it has been passed down for more than 600 years.
The Ngayu Ayu ritual is a way of giving thanks to God Almighty for abundant harvests, for being spared from disaster, and in the hope that the community stays free of the illnesses that people here are said to have suffered often in the old days.
It is also a thanksgiving for the thriving red rice (pade abang), a crop that does not grow just anywhere.
The Ngayu Ayu procession ran for two days, 5 – 6 June 2013. On the first day, water was gathered from the seven flowing springs that the people of Sembalun rely on.
The water was left to sit overnight in the homes of the customary leaders. The following morning it was brought together at the Makam Adat, the traditional burial ground west of the Sembalun Bumbung field.
Collecting water from those seven springs stands for the gratitude of the Sembalun people for the abundant harvests their land gives.
The second day opened with the slaughter of a buffalo by the customary leaders. Its head was then buried as a pasak bumi, an anchor in the earth meant to keep Sembalun village safe from calamity.
The meat was cooked by the village women and served for everyone to eat together, a shared meal known in Sasak as “Begibung”. Next came the Mafakin ritual, in which the customary leaders recited prayers through the whole process of bringing the red rice (pade abang) seed down from the lembang until it was sown. After that came the perang topat (a ritual battle fought with rice cakes).
Once those processions were done, the community walked around the traditional burial ground nine times, each customary leader, or a child standing in for him, carrying water from the seven springs before it was all poured together inside the tomb.
Photos & article by Junan MEDIA UNRAM.
