March 2024

We were greeted at the museum in Mataram with gamelan music, drinks, and yummy little snacks.

We enjoyed the museum, but it was a lot of info to take in. According to our guide, Indonesia is made up of over 490 tribes, and everywhere you go, there is a wide range of cultural influences. There are over 70 dialects on Lombok Island alone. It’s a lot to take in!

When traveling, my motto is, “Shoot first, ask questions later.” I shot pics of the museum’s info plaques so I could read them later.

We were surprised to learn what the colorful rocking horses are for. Traditionally, after Sasak boys are circumcised, they are put on these horses “to comfort them.”

Below are some snippets from the museum plaques. I love how they call the various cultural and influences “an intense dialogue.”

“The native inhabitants of the island of Lombok, which is also known as Gumi Sasak, are of the Sasak ethnic group …

Not a lot is yet known about who the Sasak people were and where they came from, except for fragments of archaeological information from the prehistoric era …

In the times that followed, different ethnic groups, such as the Balinese, Javanese, Bugis, Banjar, Melayu, Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese and so forth, came to Nusa Tenggara Barat by stages and in alternation.

The same happened with religions and beliefs; at the very beginning were animism and dynamism, then the religions of Hinduism and Buddhism, Christianity (in Donggo, Bima) and lastly Islam.

The difference between the two islands, each with its own community and cultural identity, is the intensity of the dialogue with the arrival of external cultures which influenced them.

The Sasak community in Lombok chose to have an intense dialogue with Bali and Java, whereas the Samawa and Mbojo communities on the island of Sumbawa had a more serious dialogue with the Bugis of South Sulawesi.”

TRADITIONAL HOUSE
The traditional house of Sasak tribe is called Bale. It usually has square shape,
pole, wall and alang-alang roof.

The traditional house in Museum
Negeri Nusa Tenggara Barat is called
"Bale Gunung Rata" that as one very small window.The purpose of making
small window is to avoid the thief comes.

in to the house using the window.
It also avoid the Sasak girl goes out without permission from the parent.

JARAN KAMPUT
Original plaque:
It is used to comfort the circumcised Sasak boys who also called "Praje Sunat". The "praje sunat" are seated on
"Jaran Kamput" - like horsemen and couple of people carried them in a parade around village.Read more