Traditional Dances

There are various tribes in North Maluku: Ternate, Tidore, Makian, Kayoa, Tobelo, Galela, Loloda etc. People in North Maluku or particularly in Halmahera mostly still hold on their traditional lifestyle, cooked using firewood, strong religious influence in daily life and always gathering with big family in a traditional ceremony.

Marriage and death are the most common events which attending with so many people and the family usually spends a lot of money. The grooms sometimes need to save plenty of money before purpose for a marriage. Some ceremonies and dances will be held during the event, for instance “cakalele dance” is for welcoming the guest or opening ceremony. In the past, this dance is for war purpose. Cakalele is both known in Maluku and North Maluku provinces.

Other dances such as: dana – dana, tide – tide, legu – legu, yasse are well known in Halmahera. I am one of the fanatic fans of these traditional dances, particularly yasse and tide – tide. Traditional dances can be found in marriage events in all North Maluku area. If you come to the party make sure you wear appropriate clothes (long pants/trousers & shirt), it is not polite to come with shorts, although local people is very friendly to welcome guests but it is important to respect local cultures.

In the wedding, the dance usually started leading by bride and groom. The man allowed to take a girl to the dance floor and the offering is performed by bend over to the girl who he wanted to dance with, but without force if the girl refuse he has to find another. One important tip: be careful if you dance with someone’s wife!. In traditional dance, you only allowed touching her fingers or hand but not her body. That’s all I know! For more detail please click here this is North Halmahera tourism web. So let’s dance!