The grandchildren of the Ga'e ancestors : the Hoga Sara of Ngada in West-Central Flores

Abstract

The thesis is based on eighteen months of fieldwork in the regency of Ngada on the eastern Indonesian island of Flores. It examines the system of organizing principles and symbolism of Hoga Sara society as is expressed in its social organization and cosmology. The people of the modem village and former village confederacy of the Sara Sedu, the Hoga Sara, are on a continuum with the Ngadha and Nage-Keo ethnic groups of the regency. They exhibit, however, their own unique cultural features as a group in their own right, and as a part of a larger grouping which encompasses the peoples of their neighbouring villages of Taka Tunga, Sanga Deto, and Rowa. The introduction situates the Hoga Sara in their ethnographic region and provides a brief literature and historical review of the regency. The first chapter of the thesis examines Hoga Sara identity in the context of contrasting themselves to the Ngadha on the one hand, and predicating commonality with the Hoga Taka, Are, and Rowa on the basis of common derivation from a ancestral pair and their offspring, the Ga'e siblings, on the other. Common ancestral derivation, ebu mogo, is also a basis of defining the identity of the Hoga Sara as a group, although composed of authochthonous and immigrant clans. Other aspects of group definition are connected with shared agricultural calendar and other collective ritual activities. The second chapter focuses on the individual traditional villages ( nua) which make up the territory of the former village confederacy of Sara Sedu. The composition of the nua and spatial orientation within it are examined. The third chapter deals with Hoga Sara organization of the individual clans (woe) that occupy the nua. The woe is composed of a number of named and supporting unnamed houses. The two eldest houses, sa'o pu'u (source houses) — sa'o saka pu'u and sa'o saka lobo (trunk and tip rider houses) -- form the major dual division within the clan. All named houses relate to each other and to their unnamed houses as elder-younger, ka'e-azi, based on the order of precedence of their establishment. The trunk and tip parts of the clan furthermore relate to each other as female and male. Structural differences between the clans of Sara and Sedu(Bodo) are also highlighted. Chapter four looks at the house as the basic unit of social organization. The house is a collectivity of a group of related families. The principles of membership, who is an ana ebu of the house, as well as the process of derivation from one named house from another are examined. Membership is based on a range of principles: payment of bridewealth, fulfilment of ritual obligations, tracing derivation through the father's houses and the house of origin of the mother, and marriage. Access to ancestral land is ultimately dependant on membership (ana ebu status). The named house ties together wide ranging social relations and is thus the basic unit of social organization of the Hoga Sara. The fifth chapter examines the significance of the named house (sa'o meze) and other physical objects emblematic of house and clan organization with regard to Hoga Sara concepts of identity and continuity. Social use of space, various symbolic aspects, and cosmological significance of the sa'o are explored. The buffalo sacrifice post (madhu or peo), the ancestral mother house (bhaga) and megalithic stone platforms (nabe and ture) are also considered with respect to identity. Chapter six continues to examine the significance of these physical structures of a clan in the context of Hoga Sara concepts of continuity. The cycle by which deceased members of a house become the specific protective ancestors of a clan and house are considered with a focus on the ancestral embodiment in the parts of the house, stone platforms, and sacrificial post. The ritual installation of these objects is thus essential in securing the continuity of a house or clan in the form of lifegenerative potential granted by the ancestors. Chapter Seven looks at the relationship of the Hoga Sara with their ancestors. The nature of the ritual interaction between the living and the ancestors is examined. A specific example, the ritual installation of the buffalo sacrifice post (madhu or peo) is considered in this regard. The conclusion provides an overview of Hoga Sara society with reference to current approaches of comparative studies of Austronesian societies. The comparative remarks highlight the presence of several wide-spread organizing and symbolic principles which the Hoga Sara share with other Indonesian groups, yet in their own unique configuration which is the result of local historical process of development. Show more