The ritual of Penti

Wae Rebo,  Flores Islands

The unique ritual of Penti can be seen in western Flore, at the village of Wae Rebo – a mountainous location at an altitude of 1100 metres. The village is not only famed for its unusual houses with their tall conical roofs, but also for the ancient traditions which the local Manggarai people keep up. It's not easy to reach the village. There is an airport  Labuan Bajo on Flores – it's considered the 'gateway' to Komodo Island, where the famous 'dragons' (giant lizards) are found. It will take 5-6 hours from the airport to reach the foot of the mountain – but from there it's a further 5-6 kilometres on foot, up a mountain track. 

The Penti ritual is of great significance for the local Manggarai. It's a harvest festival, celebrating the bringing in of the crops, and beginning of a new season. You could even call it a kind of new year festivity, since it is accompanied by a complete cycle of ritual ceremonies. Local people primarily voice their thanks to the local spirits and ancestors who protect them, grant fertility to the crops, and prosperity on the people. Penti is celebrated in November, but the costs of the ceremonies are high, and so it is not celebrated every year. The only place where it is always held is at Wae Rebo village – where it takes place on November 16th each year.

The villagers here mostly cling to their traditional animist beliefs. This means they worship the spirits of mountains, rocks, trees, waters, and other natural spirits. This means that early each morning, the villagers of Wae Rebo go to the river, to perform the ritual of summoning the benign water-spirits to the village. It's a ritual which members of the eight clans of Manggarai will carry out separately, at specially-appointed places. After the ritual, everyone will gather at a main communal home, where a new ceremony of chanting and dances begins.

The most gripping festival event is the caci – a warlike dance, a kind of duel with whips that shows off the traditional military prowess of the Manggarai people. Two young men take part in each round of this dance fight. During the dance, each prepares to strike the other with a whip. The other will protect himself with a leather shield, and a large whip to fend off the blows. If the whip makes contact, it can leave a deep, bloody scar. The blood that's shed in these contests is accepted by the Penti spirits. A competition can last for up to four hours, involving six or sevencombatants.

The afternoon is given over to ceremonies of worshipping ancestor spirits. All of the men in the village will gather at the communal house, then go together to the cemetery – on the other side of the mountain from the village. Once at the cemetery, the column divides – each family goes to its own graves.

They give thanks to the ancestors by making a small fire, on which they sacrifice a chicken. Its blood is scattered on a gravestone, along with rice. This is followed by long prayers.

After the cemetery, men gather at a wooden arch that denotes the symbolic gateway to the village. They go to the village in a large group – once again with singing and round-dances at the community house.

The most respected villagers pray at a central altar, considered too hallowed for tourists to be allowed near. They make a sacrifice – a rooster – to the ancestor spirits, and the altar is spattered with blood. Other domestic fowl are then also sacrificed, with each carcass burnt on a fire, and its heart removed to be examined. All the birds killed in these rituals are later eaten, even the smallest chickens. Only the wings are left, and these are laid out on the ground at the site of the ritual.

 By dusk, the men of all the village clans will come in solemn procession to the communal house. Prayers are said, and the sacrifices continue.

Inside the communal house, the men sit down, by clan. Each group carries out its own rituals – some read prayers, others sacrifice roosters and hens, and burn the carcasses on the hearth. The hearts of the sacrificed birds are once again extracted, and used in fortune-telling. Once the ceremony is over in the main communal house, the people go to their own homes to perform further rites, to invoke benign spirits in each home. All of the family members offer prayers to the spirits.

Late in the evening, the men gather once more at the communal house, for another important aspect of the Penti rituals. Two piglets are sacrificed, and their internal organs are extracted. These are crushed and mixed with rice, then ceremonially thrown to the floor. Other men put the meat and rice on plates, and carry it to be spread upon the altar. This means the main religious aspects of the ceremonies are concluded. Women begin their ritual Sanda chanting, which is supposed to last until dawn, without interruption. Then dancing begins once more.