Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Preface: The Dead, the State, and the People in Timor-Leste
- Introduction: Martyrs, Ancestors and Heroes: The Multiple Lives of Dead Bodies in Independent Timor-Leste
- Part I Ancestors, Martyrs and Heroes
- Part II The Dead in Everyday Life
- PART III The Dead and the Nation-State
- Index
4 - ‘Sempre la’o ho ita’: Ancestral Omnipresence and the Protection of the Living in Timor-Leste
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 April 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Preface: The Dead, the State, and the People in Timor-Leste
- Introduction: Martyrs, Ancestors and Heroes: The Multiple Lives of Dead Bodies in Independent Timor-Leste
- Part I Ancestors, Martyrs and Heroes
- Part II The Dead in Everyday Life
- PART III The Dead and the Nation-State
- Index
Summary
Abstract
With the power to impact people's lives in any number of ways, the ancestors play a prominent role in ensuring (or in some cases, jeopardising) the safety and well-being of their living descendants. This chapter explores a range of different forms and practices of protection, risk mitigation, and methods of managing anxiety and dread. This includes an examination of items imbued with protective powers; rituals and prayers conducted to receive ancestral blessings and protection; and rituals aimed at identifying which transgressions or inadequate ancestor veneration have caused problems. These ongoing acts of exchange and engagement will be examined in the context of the ‘everyday’, as well as at more specific instances of heightened occasions of insecurity, violence and conflict.
Keywords: vernacular security, landscape, omnipresence, protection, exchange, hamulak
In 2016, I travelled with my colleague, Juvita, to visit her family in Uatu-Carbau, a sub-district in the eastern municipality of Viqueque. It was the annual celebration of Loron Matebian (All Souls’ Day) and I had been invited by one of her uncles to attend. He told me that it would be important for my research. While most of her family reside in the two adjoining villages of Irabin De Cima and Irabin de Baixo in Uatu-Carbau, we stayed overnight at Juvita's mother's home in Loiulo, a village much closer (although still several hours’ walk) to their uma lulik (sacred house), located further inland at the foot of Mount Matebian. Early in the morning we began our walk up the hill, but not before everyone had prepared their baskets of offerings – candles, flowers, and packets of cigarettes. The first stop was the knua rate (ancestral grave-site) of Juvita's mother's side, knua Baduria. The atmosphere was peaceful, casual, and there appeared (to me at least) to be very little formality. Children were running around, selfies were being taken, others were busily tidying graves – sweeping dead leaves and rubbish and removing old offerings before lighting new candles for the day. Then there were people navigating their way around with what appeared to be an extremely accurate memory of which graves to stop at and place offerings.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Dead as Ancestors, Martyrs, and Heroes in Timor-Leste , pp. 115 - 136Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2020