The Horsemen of Sumba
Every year, from February to March, hundreds of horsemen from all over Sumba Island gather at a field, to reenact a traditional battle known as pasola. Armed with blunt lances, teams joust against each other, in an age-old ritual that takes place just before the harvest. One inviolable tradition strongly held by the fighting horsemen is that their rivalry ends in the battlefield and not beyond. It is an exciting and colorful tradition that over the years has attracted visitors from other parts of Indonesia and overseas. Tempo contributor Seto Wardhana filed the following report from Sumba.
March 28, 2012
It was dawn but still dark when horsemen, wearing kalambo (woven poncho-like wraps traditionally worn by Sumba men) quietly rode into Mbukabani hamlet in Kodi district, West Sumba. But their horses neighed loudly, breaking the silence. They hurried to a thatched-roof house on stilts at the entrance of the village, where the communal elders live. They were greeted by 60-year-old Rangga Mete, a ratothe Sumba word for communal elderwho was fastening
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