Enjoy the pristine beauty of relict forests, meet alone sunrises and sunsets, bask in warm sea water, cut a fast wave on the surf and feel like Columbus - isn't this the cherished desire of any city dweller? For this purpose, lovers of secluded recreation go to the distant islands of the Mentawai Islands. As a bonus, desperate travelers are offered a visit to the Mentawai, a unique Indonesian tribe.
LONG ROAD TO JUNGLE
Mentawai, a group of seventy Indonesian islands, is a true surf paradise. There is such a quantity and quality of waves that surfers all over the world have long chosen these land areas, turning them from once sparsely populated to rather lively. But civilization has not yet reached each of the islands. Yes, and to the islands, where they are engaged in this sport, the road is long. The first destination of the traveler is the city of Padang in Sumatra, which can be reached by plane. The second is Siberut island, where a ship goes from Padang once a day. The ship hangs on the sea for a long time, about twelve hours, sometimes because of bad weather it can go even forty hours. The Mentawai tribe is scattered over several islands - Pagai-Utara, Pagai-Selatan, Sipora and Siberut. The easiest way for tourists to get to Siberut, but even there the tribe is not in the "open access", but in the impenetrable jungle. It is unrealistically difficult to get to this wild people, only experienced local guides know the way to it. The tourist business on Siberut is in its infancy, so not every local is ready to lead travelers into the wild jungle. In addition, the indigenous people are notorious for bounty hunters: the men of the tribe have collected the skulls of their enemies as trophies from time immemorial. True, now the mentaways are no longer so bloodthirsty. But they have preserved many other ancient traditions and way of life, which, undoubtedly, is of great interest to travelers. Mentawai is a departing nature, a world that we will very soon lose, therefore it is so valuable to have time to see it with our own eyes.therefore, not every local is ready to lead travelers into the wild jungle. In addition, the indigenous people are notorious for bounty hunters: the men of the tribe have collected the skulls of their enemies as trophies from time immemorial. True, now the mentaways are no longer so bloodthirsty. But they have preserved many other ancient traditions and way of life, which, undoubtedly, is of great interest to travelers. Mentawai is a departing nature, a world that we will very soon lose, so it is so valuable to have time to see it with our own eyes.therefore, not every local is ready to lead travelers into the wild jungle. In addition, the indigenous people are notorious for bounty hunters: the men of the tribe have collected the skulls of their enemies as trophies from time immemorial. True, now the mentaways are no longer so bloodthirsty. But they have preserved many other ancient traditions and way of life, which, undoubtedly, is of great interest to travelers. Mentawai is a departing nature, a world that we will very soon lose, therefore it is so valuable to have time to see it with our own eyes. But they have preserved many other ancient traditions and way of life, which, undoubtedly, is of great interest to travelers. Mentawai is a departing nature, a world that we will very soon lose, so it is so valuable to have time to see it with our own eyes. But they have preserved many other ancient traditions and way of life, which, undoubtedly, is of great interest to travelers. Mentawai is a departing nature, a world that we will very soon lose, so it is so valuable to have time to see it with our own eyes.
IN CLOSE, BUT NOT IN OFFENSE
Mentawai establish settlements far from the sea and closer to the river. Each village has its own language. These wild people do not even know about the existence of a single Indonesian language.
One village can have one or more houses. Mentawai live in large families of representatives of different generations. Each family, consisting of 30-40 people, is one house, divided into small cells by symbolic partitions. If a young man starts a family, a part of the house is separated for him - please, live and be happy! If the family grows so that there is not enough space for everyone, the household becomes denser, sometimes the dwelling is completed. A single-family home is very rare.
The elders keep order in the village: they resolve disputes, punish the guilty, etc. In second place in the family is the man. This is understandable, because this is the main earner. The family feeds on what they can get in the jungle or catch in the river. The mentawai's food is not very rich, so they do not refuse what nature is ready to share with them. Everything that is more or less edible is used - taro tubers, cassava, yams, sweet potatoes, avocado, mango, durian, coconuts, bananas, sugar cane. The basis of plant nutrition is sago palms. The Mentawai have long gotten used to using the core of the sago palm tree for their own purposes, crushing it and getting starch from which nutritious pancakes are baked. Palm leaves are used for walls and ceilings or for building rafts. Mentawai keep domestic chickens and pigs, which are fed with cereals,made from sago. Meat is a festive product. Including the meat of wild animals. Mentawai hunt monkeys in the jungle and kill them with a bow with poison arrows. The poison acts exclusively on animals, so monkey meat is quite edible. But such a delicacy does not occur every day, so hungry savages are not averse to feasting on live worms and some smelly roots that are disgusting from the point of view of a civilized person. Almost all representatives of the tribe smoke Javanese tobacco, they can willingly treat them to guests.therefore, hungry savages are not averse to feasting on live worms and some smelly roots that are disgusting from the point of view of a civilized person. Almost all representatives of the tribe smoke Javanese tobacco, they can willingly treat them to guests.therefore hungry savages are not averse to feasting on live worms and some smelly roots that are disgusting from the point of view of a civilized person. Almost all representatives of the tribe smoke Javanese tobacco, they can willingly treat them to guests.
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In harmony with the spirits
Mentawai beliefs are a special story. In their opinion, every plant and animal is endowed with a soul, which means that it is necessary to kill and destroy it only if necessary. They do not see much difference between a living person and a dead person, a monkey and a monkey carcass, in their opinion, everyone came from the other world and will one day return there.
Experts of the World Wildlife Fund are inclined to think that this approach became the key to the conservation of wildlife on the islands inhabited by mentaways.
The savages have a legend explaining the origin of their world. Once upon a time, their ancestors arrived on the islands and divided into two groups. One settled along the river and built dwellings, the second went into the jungle and turned into spirits. Since then, after death, souls go to their own - in the jungle.
Spirits are omnipotent. God forbid the spirits are out of sorts! Then men do not hunt, representatives of the tribe get sick, natural disasters in the form of hurricanes, floods, earthquakes hit the islands. The intermediaries between spirits and mere mortals are sorcerers.
Each family has its own hereditary wizards. Only they can communicate with spirits and ask them for help. No one knows how shamans negotiate with spirits. They keep these secrets behind seven locks and give out only to their successors. The tribesmen do not even try to penetrate the veil of secrecy, it is enough for them that the sorcerers, hung with amulets, rhythmically stomp, mumble spells, divine by the flight of birds and beat the ritual tambourine. Recently, shamans have acquired a metal gong, the sound of which is carried very far in the jungle so that all spirits can hear. To acquire such a necessary thing in the household, shamans travel a long way - on boats down the river to the village, where they sell all sorts of things brought from the "mainland". Mentawai can't pay off with money - where do they come from in the jungle? But they have coconuts, mangoes,wicker baskets, mats, which they exchange for the desired product. Appearances are very rare. They try to contact as little as possible with the outside world. The villagers are also not eager to communicate with the mentaways: both of them remember well how they were at enmity with each other. Warlike savages often emerged victorious from these battles, and the skulls of the islanders adorned the palisade in the Mentawai settlement.
BEAUTY STANDARD
Going to the dentist is a painful and unpleasant procedure that requires a lot of willpower from some people. Sometimes even strong men are ready to use anesthesia to heal one tooth. But the women of the Mentawai tribe cannot be envied, because they have to file their teeth. This is done at a young age, and only then can a girl be considered truly beautiful. And it doesn't matter that the smile after the operation resembles a shark's mouth - the teeth, though not in two rows, are sharp as a razor. For the sake of these strange notions of beauty, the poor people have to endure terrible pain, because in the primitive tribe there is no drill and anesthesia. Everything is done in the old fashioned way, in the old-fashioned way, with the help of emery. And the sharper each tooth is sharpened, the better. Modern ethnographers believe that such mockery of girls is a kind of initiation, initiation into adulthood. In other words, a change in the sex and age status of a “citizen”. To look at such a thing and to experience a culture shock is the dream of any tourist. Many people go to the jungle for this. However, beauty is a relative concept. Surely, the mentaways would be horrified if they knew, for example, the following fact. In 2013, 26-year-old American Kaylen Wenzel underwent a medically difficult sex change operation to become a woman and participate in the Miss California pageant. So to each his own, and it is not known which is more miraculous …the following fact. In 2013, 26-year-old American Kaylen Wenzel underwent a medically complex sex change operation to become a woman and participate in the Miss California pageant. So to each his own, and it is not known which is more miraculous …the following fact. In 2013, 26-year-old American Kaylen Wenzel underwent a medically complex sex change operation to become a woman and participate in the Miss California pageant. So to each his own, and it is not known which is more miraculous …
Natalia KUVSHINOVA