INDONESIA LOMBOK TRADITIONAL VILLAGES ( PART 1)

TRADITIONAL VILLAGES

Numbers of traditional villages in Lombok are identified. As a tourist destination, at least 2 of the Sasak Villages are mostly visited in Lombok. It becomes the reason for the writer to give a recommendation to visit these villages. They are Sade and Segenter. Dusun Sade ( dusun : orchard)in RAMBITAN  Village is in Lombok Tengah and Segenter Village located in Lombok Utara. Both are recognized as traditional villages since the villagers keep maintaining various symbols representing indigenous traditionalistic life of Sasak Society.

SADE TRADITIONAL VILLAGE

SADE, one of traditional villages ( or orchard) , is located in Rambitan Village, Pujut – Lombok Tengah. Any traveler who takes a tour to Kuta beach from Praya ( or Mataram) will pass the location of the orchard. The traditional settlement is a 50 km away from Kuta Beach , with 700 population and 150 unique and peculiar Sasak’s indigenous houses inside the area, claimed as unique for its constrast wth the common local houses in Lombok. The house is made of some light materials (wood, bamboo and thatch (grasses roof) .

All buildings are free of nails and using knockdown installation. Other distinguish feature is on how the villagers use of feces from cows to smear the house floors. Materials to form the floor are mixed of clays, latex, and ashes of straw and feces of buffalo (or cow). The mixed materials are able to reduce humidity inside the house, tough the wall is only made of bamboo plaits or gedeg with only one door access.

Some visitors think the local tradition of people in Sade as awkward but also unique at the same time. Some people try to reason this habit by considering the feces as disgusting and full of gems or virus caused illness. However, the natives believe that this disgusting material of buffalo has peculiar property to avoid bad elements. 

As evidence, no villager in Sade is sick but living well. Possibly, the good virtue the mixed material improves self physical immunity of the inhabitants. This tradition is still maintained by the native as traditional property until today. If the tradition is discontinued, the local people are afraid the culture ( adat) of Sasak will be disoriented along with the time goes by.

Layout of the orchard often amazes visitors, truly simple. Each house only has 2 rooms. After the door access, the front space is called as inenbale (main room), which functions as bedroom and bale dalem (inner room). Space for sleeping also serves various functions, such as storage for family’s wealth, delivery room for mother bearing child and a temporary morgue before burial. Meanwhile, bale delem is used as cooking spot. The position of the inner space is higher than outer one, about 2 steps higher. To enter the room, anyone should get through a door of 150 cm height. 

People in Sade use firewood to make fire in their kitchen. Smoke that comes from a stove repels mosquito and keep termites and insects away from the wood of the building. What we need to learn from them is their modest life by not eating fancy food. Therefore, their life is full of order and naturally balance. Each house is inhabited by 1 to 4 families.

Most people in Sade develop such an excellent weaving skill to produce special hand woven. It becomes another alternative for them to earn a living. There is a domestic belief that of a woman is not able to wave, it will be difficult for her to find a husband or marry. Most handmade weavings from the village are well appreciated by foreigners. 

To produce a piece of woven product, it spends at least 2 week work, even more for more difficult pattern. A piece of woven product may be sold between 150000 to 500000 rupiah. For a special size product, the price may reach 1,000,000 rupiah. Besides weaving, people in Sade are also skillful to create various body accessories, such as necklace made of beads and wickers as souvenirs for visitors.Uniqueness and skills performed by the natives that become a government’s most expected destination invite more tourists to come for years.

It is possible to visit Sade at any occasion or time. You will find local people’s hospitality within their local customers. However , it is not recommended to make a visit at night. In the village, administrator of the village also organizes various Sasak’s culture attraction, especially to welcome visitors. In the orchard you may also find various kinds of handmade souvenirs produced by the local people.