The Soul of NTT

Reba is a traditional ceremony among the Ngada people of Flores celebrating the local New Year. It’s an annual thanksgiving event honoring ancestors and the earth

Held in traditional communal houses, it fosters unity, solidarity, and communal well-being across social classes

Lota script is an ancient writing tradition from Ende, Flores, derived from the Bugis script but with eight unique characters

Dating to the 16th century, it represents local identity and literacy during the reign of Sultan Alaudin; still valued as part of Flores heritage .

Etu is an indigenous form of bare-knuckle boxing in Wulu Valley, Nagekeo. The event is held annually in February, linked to the traditional agricultural calendar

This ritual combat for adult men reinforces masculinity, endurance, and community cohesion as part of a larger cultural tour

Across the seven distinct cultural regions of Flores — Manggarai, Ngada, Nagekeo, Ende, Sikka, East Flores, and Lembata — women have preserved the art of ikat weaving for generations. Unlike factory cloth, each piece of Flores ikat is dyed and woven entirely by hand using natural pigments: indigo root for blue, morinda (mengkudu) root for red, and turmeric for yellow. The patterns — animals, ancestors, geometric cosmologies — are tied into the thread before dyeing in a precise and meditative process that can take weeks before a single meter of cloth is ready for the loom.

Flores ikat is not merely decorative. In Sikka, a bride's weaving skill is a measure of her social standing. In Ende, specific motifs belong to specific clans and may not be worn by outsiders. In Lembata, certain cloths are considered sacred and are used only in funerary rites. Buying a piece of Flores ikat directly from a weaver in her village — watching her work beneath a stilted house surrounded by drying threads in the morning sun — is an encounter with living culture that no museum can replicate.

Penti is the annual harvest thanksgiving ceremony of the Manggarai people of Flores, celebrated after the rice harvest is safely stored. The ritual takes place in the central compang — a sacred stone altar at the heart of every traditional Manggarai village — where offerings of rice, palm wine (tuak), and sacrificial animals are presented to the ancestral spirits (empo) who are credited with protecting the fields and ensuring a good yield. Penti marks the Manggarai new year and is the occasion for community-wide reconciliation and renewal.

The highlight of Penti is the danding — a communal circle dance performed through the night, where men and women of all ages hold hands and move in slow, rhythmic steps around the compang, singing traditional songs (mbata) that recount the village's history and express gratitude to the ancestors. The Caci whip dance is often performed as an offering of vigor and courage to the spirits. Penti reinforces the Manggarai concept of gendang — the drum-village as a unified living entity — and is the most important social event in the Manggarai calendar.