Crazy Bamboo in Maluku

Do you believe that a piece of bamboo can be crazy and make 7 young men become overwhelmed? In Maluku there is a unique tradition called “bambu gila” or in local the language it is said “bulu gila”, in a direct English translation mean “crazy bamboo” or you might say a “mad bamboo”. This tradition is preserved by people in Maluku. The name of Maluku is given by the Arabic traders known as “jazirah al-mulk” or land of the kingdoms. I will explain deeper history about Maluku in another post. Nowadays, Maluku has divided into two provinces: North Maluku with the capital of Sofifi and Maluku with Ambon. Geographically this area located in the east of Sulawesi, west of Papua island and north part of Timor.

Crazy bamboo with the dancers

The mystical dance or crazy bamboo has been performed many years before religions have been introduced by the colonials and the Muslim merchants. This dance is very distinctive in Indonesia, even in Maluku area, you may not see easily unless there is a special event, such as Legu Gam festival in Ternate. The dance is often performed in Liang village, district of Salahatu and Mamala village, district of Leihitu, both in Maluku province. Other places are in Ternate and Jailolo within North Maluku province. I was born and live for years in North Maluku but cannot see they perform in many places.

Australian tourists want to try the bamboo’s power

The dancers of crazy bamboo or bulu gila consist of 7 young men hold a bamboo and a leader. The bamboo use for this dance has been selected and cut in a certain manner. The leader task is to read a mantra and lead the bamboo, beforehand he burn incense, chewing ginger then blow it to the bamboo and screams “gila” or “crazy”. Suddenly, the bamboo move with its own, the power of spirits mentioned by the leader in his mantra has moved to the bamboo. After the bamboo is going crazy, the seven men’s power become insufficient, even some are faint using their strength to control the bamboo. Finally, the bamboo is tamed by the leader using burning incense and traditional mantra.

Usually traditional instrument is played along with the performance. Based on some stories, in the past, this mystical power is used to do a heavy work such as build up ships. I know it seems odd right? Believed in a mystical power, however, not everything in this world can be explained scientifically, or perhaps let it be a story tale for people in Maluku to preserve our tradition.

War Traditions in the Eastern Indonesia

The Eastern of Indonesia areas consists of several main islands and hundred of small islands. The biggest island is Papua, Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT), Maluku and North Maluku islands. These places are highly rich in natural resources, such as gold, nickel, copper, natural gas, oil, horticulture, fish products as well as tourism industry growing up recently. People in the Eastern part of Indonesia has unique native cultures and traditions, especially the war dance. In Papua it is famous with “tari perang” or “velabhea”, in Flores NTT, they called “tari caci”, and most of the areas of Maluku and North Maluku is known as “cakalele” dance.

Cakalele is a war dance usually performed by a group of men armed with machetes and wooden shields along with traditional music instruments. I assumed because of various tribes in these areas (including mine), sometimes they have conflict in the past and cakalele dance is being performed for years, however now the performance is to welcome guest or in traditional events such as wedding ceremony.

One of the famous war dance  or cakalele in Maluku province is called “ma’taenu”. A war dance from Pelauw, Haruku, Central Maluku district. This dance has a strong Muslim tradition in the people of Pelauw. Each year they perform ma’taenu, hundreds of men carrying their (very sharp) machetes and knives, they wear white clothes and walk into the road in villages to celebrate this event. When they are walking through the villages they slice out their body parts from the face, including tongue, until feet with their machetes but nobody is wounded. You can see on the YouTube video below. This is a documentary video published by an Indonesian television branch in Maluku. Many villagers who watching the ceremony often screaming due to the extreme performance and sometimes scary. Spoiler alert on this video! The video is in Indonesian language but you can skip to see the ma’taenu performance.

The ma’taenu dance has been performed for years. Prior to the ceremony, the men attend this event need to be purifying from their mistakes or sins from family members and relatives. One of the important element of this ceremony is the machetes or knives must be as sharp as possible to use during ma’taenu. The men will start walk from 06:30 am in the morning through villages road to the sacred places and will finish in a mosque to relieve the spiritual power. I inspired to write this story because this is one of the hundreds even thousands of unique cultures in Indonesia especially in my areas in Maluku/North Maluku. Thanks for reading! Any comment or question just write below this article.

 

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!

The Legend of Tanjung Ulie

There is a legend about Tanjung Ulie. Long time ago there was a very big man called Cekel lived in this area. He assumed as the ancestor of Sawai tribe and first occupant in this area. He was a part of Ternate sultanate leader in war. He went fishing in the bay. His fishing rod made from a large piece of timber and the fishing line from natural rope found in the forest, while the eye hook from a sturdy branch. As he was fishing using deer meat as bait, suddenly a very big fish ate the bait and got hooked. He felt so excited and started to shout “Ulili! Ulili! Ulili!”. Since then the bay where Cekel was fishing became known as Tanjung Ulie.

Tanjung Ulie is the place for work and holiday. It is about one and a half hour by car from Weda, the capital of Central Halmahera, and thirty minutes from the nearest villages: Lelilef Sawai or Gemaf. This place is a favorite place for local people. They sometimes have a family gathering and organize an outdoor worship in this area. Local people also go fishing and find oyster around this place.

After work I usually go for a walk around this area. It has an incredible scenery, beautiful turquoise water with the white and grey sand, natural green forest mixed with coconut plantation owned by local people and various kind of birds passing the road. I never seen so many birds in my home town and I am lucky to work in this place because a part of that I can spend time to explore more attractive places and immersed with the culture of Sawai people.