INDONESIA - DAY TWENTY FOUR
JUNE 8, 2024
Farewell dear Soulshine and Bali sisters
Leaving Bali and heading to Lombok
There is beauty and gratitude all around, even at the airport!
Welcome to Lombok, the island of 1,000 mosques. There is a tribe on the island, the Sasak Tribe and while bring transported to the Hotel - The Oberoi Beach Resort I was told a story of a tradition of the Sasak people that still exists today.
When a man wants to marry a woman, he kidnaps her in the middle of the night. The parents of the woman are not aware of this and the next day a call or visit is made to the parents letting them know the intentions of the man/kidnapper and then the parents get together and plan a wedding after official informing of that parties involved.
It is described in more detail here:
The Sasak Tribe from Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara is one of many tribes in Indonesia that still practice their traditions. The tribe has a unique tradition called the Merariq, where the bride is “kidnapped” before the wedding.
Merariq is the first stage in the Sasak wedding rituals. The bride-to-be must be secretly “kidnapped” from her house at night to avoid any commotion. Should there be a commotion, the groom would be fined. The next ritual is the Sejati-Selebar, where the family of the groom-to-be that their daughter was “kidnapped”. The third stage is the Nuntut Wali, where the groom-to-be sends his trusted representatives to ask the family of the bride-to-be to give her away in the marriage.
The fourth stage is the Sorong Serah Aji Krame. This is the main wedding ceremony in the Sasak Tribe. In this procession, the elders, heads of the villages, heads of the hamlets of the bride and groom, and the dane-dane (guests) are witnessing the wedding. The wedding ritual is ended with the mbales ones mae ritual, which is a get-together between the families of the couple. This is an important momentum for both families and also serves as an event to ask for forgiveness should there be something during the rituals that offended the other party.
It’s going to be so hard to go back to the United States and not receive a Welcome Drink and snack at every hotel and dinner.
As terrified as I was and feeling not ready and oh so alone (not a new feeling for me), after dinner I reluctantly went back to my room to pack (again) for my 3-day/2-night trek up the 12,224 Mt. Rinjani volcano.
