SD1-296

Genre: Myth/ancestor tale: Cawa Timbane tells the tale Watu Pou (Rock boat) about first settlers and claimed to strictly follow the story as his parents and grandparents had taught him. Three ancestor pairs drifted on a boat from the west and arrived at Watu Pou, a rock by the Palu’e shore that is their boat, now a rock anchored to the island. The pairs have children and build a society. One of the son’s, Langga, receives divination in a dream that he has to sacrifice his child. When he is about to thrust a knife into his unknowing son, he hears a voice that says that he must sacrifice buffalo instead (like Abraham in the Bible and the Koran), and from now on, and a buffalo appears. That was how the buffalo sacrifice tradition began. Later the people moved from the hills of Awa (where buffalo sacrifice allegedly originates from), to Ko’a, built a new ritual centre and continued to sacrifice buffalo. Recorded late morning in Kampong Ko’a, 14 June 2015, in Cawa'a house, with his wife. See also Raja no'o Puteri, SD1-015, another folk tale recorded the same day.Palu'e, Flores, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia. Recording made in kampong Ko'a, Ko'a domain