Dutch canons protecting Todo village
A village of the Manggarai tribe, with a fabulous traditional village house, on the island of Flores
Todo is located off the main road from Labuanbaju to Ruteng, on the island of Flores. It is a traditional village of the Manggarai hill people; ‘traditional’, in this case, means a village with a Rumah Adat, a tall traditional house with a high thatched roof and a wood-carved opening, where ancestors are being worshiped In addition, there are a series of megaliths, ceremonial standing stones representing the graves of past generations, and a sacred path from the sacred tree to the sacred Rumah Adat, for good measure protected by a few ancient canons, allegedly Dutch but in fact made in Liverpool.
Manggarai culture is distinct in Flores, and characterises itself, among other things, by the use of circular forms – see the Rumah Adat, but also rice padi structures.
one of the standard houses in the village
decorated entrance of the Rumah Adat
Rumah Adat in Todo village
Spiderweb-like padi fields near Todo village
Padi fields along a stream (not all of them are circular…)
