Fahombo: A Local Culture Festival That Has Been Worldwide!
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Talking about cultural festivals, especially in Indonesia where I was born and raised, I think this is endless. Why? Indonesia is an archipelagic country consisting of thousands of large and small islands in it. Islanders automatically have their own cultural festival. Just imagine that Indonesia has very diverse ethnic groups, even the Indonesian nation has more than 1,300 ethnic groups and more than 17,000 islands in it.
"Can you imagine it?"
I can't even imagine it, even though I'm Indonesian. 😁
However, on this auspicious occasion, I just want to present one of the cultural festivals. Why? Of course it is impossible for me to present all of them, but the main reason I present only one cultural festival; because the geographical location is not too far from where I live, namely the Nias Tribe of North Sumatra.
Nias people call this tradition Fahombo. Or if we translate the meaning of the local language which means Stone Jumping Tradition. It is said that according to history, the tradition of jumping a stone as high as two meters originated from the frequent occurrence of wars between tribes in Nias Land in ancient times, so to win a battle, of course, every soldier must have an advantage. . . . Or can I explain more clearly that the pile of stones as high as two meters is a means to train young people's agility in running and jumping so that they have strong and mature physical abilities in living life and war, of course at that time.
Amazingly, many tourists who come there during the festival and capture the moment, both domestic tourists and non-domestic tourists. In short, the natural beauty of Nias Land combined with the Stone Jumping Cultural Festival has invited many tourists to enjoy two moments at once, namely the panoramic beauty of Nias Land which is a paradise for surfers because of the extraordinary sea and Fahombo.
However, please note that this stone-jumping cultural festival is not carried out by just anyone or young people. This festival can only be attended by young people who have a strong physique and master martial arts and black magic. And, when doing a stone jump as high as two meters, it is not allowed to touch the rock surface at all. And if that happened, it would be very painful. But if successful, it will be extraordinary in all aspects of life.
Oh yes, usually when a man has managed to jump over a two meter high rock, then the young man is considered physically mature and will later become someone who is very responsible if there is a conflict with another village. This tradition is so prestigious that the family of a young man who manages to jump over a rock will usually slaughter several livestock as a form of gratitude for the success of his favorite son.
Usually this stone jumping tradition is carried out to fill certain events accompanied by war dance attractions. However, because the war dance involved many people, they only did stone jumps. This is related to the chronology of the implementation time. In addition, this festival is also deliberately held for other important moments, even related to promoting local tourism with an amazing culture, of course, like Fahombo.
Enjoy your life always friends!
Love, Seha76!