CANCAR SPIDER RICE FIELDS
CANCAR SPIDER RICE
FIELDS
In Manggarai you will certainly notice the impressive lingko fields.
The most amazing view over a number of these fields is offered at Cara Village
situated on a small hill 17km west of Ruteng in Cancar. With their round,
spider-web structure, these pieces of land are unique eye-catchers in
Manggarai.
Long before wet-rice cultivation, the ancestors of the Manggaraian
people grew dry rice, corn, and tubers in the lingko fields. Every village used
to own several fields. During planting and harvesting time, ceremonies and
ritual offerings were held at the lodok, the ritual center of the lingko. The
lodok features a wooden pole and a rock. These two objects symbolize the
reunion of the male and female, the heaven and earth, and the creation of
mankind. If a new lingko was developed, the sacrifice of a water buffalo was
required. The division of a new lingko was guided by the tu’a teno, the Lord of
the Land.
This traditional leader had the authority over the land and the
rituals and ceremonies related to the agricultural cycle. The distribution of
the fields to different families was carried out at the lodok. Every family of
a community had the right to work a certain piece of land. Depending on the
family’s size, the head of the family held a certain number of fingers to the
pole in the lodok. The distance between the fingers was marked on this pole.
From these two points, lines were drawn to the outer circle of the lingko,
defining the size of a family’s land. These pie segments were called moso,
which means ‘hand’ in the Manggarai language.
The moso were not conceived as the private property of a single
person or household. Traditionally the lingko was farmed with a system of
shifting cultivation, thus claims of constant land tenure were not yet common.
After a two-year utilization period, the old fields were given up, and virgin
forest – which in the past was abundant – or former fallow land, was cleared
for new fields. Even though these fields still exist today, their agricultural
and ritual context has changed drastically.
Nowadays the lingko fields are primarily used for wet-rice
cultivation. With the dominance of this new form of farming, the significance
of the traditional agricultural calendar with its rituals and ceremonies,
embedded in the planting and harvesting of dry rice and corn, has also faded.
Facilities
In Cara Village you will not find any tourist facilities. Ruteng, located 16km from Cara Village, offers some accommodation and restaurants.
In Cara Village you will not find any tourist facilities. Ruteng, located 16km from Cara Village, offers some accommodation and restaurants.
How to get there
Located only 17km from Ruteng, Cancar is easily reachable from Ruteng by motorbike or car. Bemo also frequently head to Cancar from themarket in Ruteng. From the terminal in Cancar it is about a 1km walk to the viewing point in Cara Village. While passing through the village, you are expected to stop at the adat house to sign the guestbook and leave a small donation.
Located only 17km from Ruteng, Cancar is easily reachable from Ruteng by motorbike or car. Bemo also frequently head to Cancar from themarket in Ruteng. From the terminal in Cancar it is about a 1km walk to the viewing point in Cara Village. While passing through the village, you are expected to stop at the adat house to sign the guestbook and leave a small donation.
Please contact us for further information.
WhatsApp : +62-812-1732-5273 (Iping Gantur)
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