5

Background and exegesis on the origin narratives of Thie

The origin narratives of Thie and Termanu derive from and belong within a common Rotenese oral tradition. As narratives, they are related and there are correspondences in many of the events that they recount. There are also critical divergencies and distinct accounts offered in each of these traditions.

Recitations 1 to 5 in Termanu’s origin narratives correspond to Recitations 1 to 3 in Thie’s tradition. They recount the hunting of pig and civet, the encounter of the sons of the Sun and Moon with the rulers of the Sea and Ocean, and the marriage established between these realms that involves the transfer of wealth from the sea. The consequences of this transfer differ in the two traditions. Significantly, the setting for Termanu’s narrative of the origin of the house is a heavenly one whereas Thie’s narratives set these events in an early ancestral world located in Thie.

Thie’s Recitation 4 and 6 correspond with Termanu’s Recitation 9. These narratives are concerned with the nautilus and baler shells Suti Solo and Bina Bane, which are scooped from the sea. Yet, these narratives provide notably different versions. The journeying of the shells in Termanu’s version ends in a return to the sea whereas, in Thie’s narratives, the shells are linked to the beginnings of planting in the domain and the celebration of this achievement.

Similarly, Thie’s Recitation 5 corresponds with Recitation 7 for Termanu. Both offer an account of the origins of the planting of rice and millet, but Termanu’s narrative becomes an extended topogeny—a litany of placenames—that relates the transmission of planting from one woman to another in locations throughout the island of Rote. In contrast, Thie’s narrative concludes with a focus on the celebration of planting in Thie.

There is no equivalent in Thie’s tradition of Termanu’s narrative of the origin of red millet. This narrative links the origin of this distinctive cultivar to the sons of the Sun and Moon and not to any derivation from the sea, as is recounted in other narratives in both traditions.

The collection of narratives in Termanu includes an account (Recitation 8) of the origin of tie-dyeing, of weaving and of the patterns used in traditional cloths. This narrative makes mention of women of the Heavens and Seas and reveals the killing of the Shark and Crocodile, Pata Iuk ma Dula Foek. The islands of Ndao and Rote are the setting for this narrative. This narrative, as in Termanu’s Recitation 7, offers an extended topogeny that traces the spread of these arts of weaving and dyeing throughout the island of Rote. No equivalent narrative was recorded for Thie.

The most striking narrative in the corpus from Thie is an origin celebration narrative, Recitation 6, which recounts, in detail, the love life of two women who are transformed into sea cow and turtle and become the sacrificial offering at an origin feast in Thie. This final narrative from Thie is a monumental work of poetic imagination.

Thie’s distinctive social and ritual traditions

Thie (Ti’i), like Termanu, is one of the 18 domains of the island of Rote. Located to the south-west of Termanu, it is the largest and most populous domain on the south coast of the island. Seventeenth-century Dutch records identify both Thie and Termanu as separate territories on Rote. Whereas, at the time, Termanu was considered loyal to the Dutch East India Company, Thie was, for many years, seen as rebellious and, as a consequence, suffered several sharp reprisals, the most severe in 1681. In November 1690, however, Thie joined 11 other domains on the island in signing a treaty of contract with the Company that superseded the previous contract of 1652, which had been signed by a smaller number of domains.

Thie as a domain is not—as is the case in Termanu—centred on a long and elaborate succession of dynastic rule dominated by a single clan. Instead, Thie’s traditions revolve around the organisation of an encompassing moiety arrangement that allocates clans either to Sabarai, the moiety of the Male Lord (Manek), or to Taratu, the moiety of the Female Lord (Fetor). The moieties of Thie, Sabarai and Taratu divide the clans of the domains into intermarrying groups. These moieties were also responsible for the celebration of key origin ceremonies.

Sabarai, headed by the clan of the Manek Mbura Lai, comprises eight major or ‘mother’ clans (leo inak). In addition to Mbura Lai, these major clans are Saba Lai, Henu Lai, Nggau Pandi, Meo Leok, Tola Umbuk, Sandi and Kolek. Within this group of eight, there is an internal genealogical division consisting of five clans—Mbura Lai, Saba Lai, Henu Lai, Nggau Pandi and Meo Leok—known as the Pandi Anan (‘Descendants of Pandi’). This group of eight clans performed the first of Thie’s successive origin ceremonies. This initial celebration by these major clans was known as the Hus Lutu Ain.

Taratu, headed by the clan of the Fetor Meo Umbuk, also has eight major lineages. These major clans are Meo Umbuk, Feo Soru, Nate Feo, Tode Feo, Mesa Feo, Ndana Feo, Soru Umbuk and Langga Ledo. In Taratu, there are two overlapping genealogical divisions: the first, known as Moi Anan (‘Descendants of Moi’), consists of the clans from Meo Umbuk to Ndana Feo; the second, known as Mboru Anan (‘Descendants of Mboru’), consists of the four clans Nate Feo, Tode Feo, Mesa Feo and Ndana Feo. Together, the eight clans performed their own origin ceremony, Hus Dae Ain.

Within both these moieties, there are other clans, known as minor or ‘child’ clans (leo anak). These clans are considered to have preceded, in origin, the major clans. Collectively, these are associated with the rituals of the earth. There are six minor clans in Sabarai—Kana Ketu, Kona, Le’e, Sua, Musu Hu and Landu—and four minor clans in Taratu: Moka Leok, Bibi Manek, Man’Dato and Keka Dulu.

Whereas members of the clans of Sabarai are supposed to marry members of the clans of Taratu, the minor clans in Sabarai have the right to marry within either Sabarai or Taratu, thus rendering Thie’s dual organisation into a triadic marriage structure consisting of the major clans of Sabarai, the minor clans of Sabarai and all of Taratu (for a detailed discussion of these internal relations, see Fox 1980c: 120–33).

Among the minor clans, several are or were critical. The clan Kana Ketu in Sabarai holds the title of ‘Head of the Earth’ (Dae Langgak). Other clans of importance are Sua and Musu Hu in Sabarai and Keka Dulu and Bibi Manek in Taratu. These four clans once celebrated their own separate origin ceremonies. Sua’s ceremony followed the Hus Dae Ain, then came Musu Hu’s, Keka Dulu’s and Bibi Manek’s ceremonies. All these separate ceremonies culminated in a large communal origin ceremony known as Soru-Soru.

The Soru-Soru was led by the minor clans in Sabarai: Kana Ketu and Kona, who were positioned on the east with Sua, Musu Hu and Le’e on the west. Members of other clans could join either side of these key clans. The Soru-Soru involved a fierce ritual struggle: Sua, Musu Hu and Le’e advanced from the west to steal a large fish that was guarded by Kana Ketu and Kona. In a hail of rocks thrown from both sides, the ritual fish had to be captured and taken by the western group. This was the prelude to Thie’s final origin ceremony, known as Limba.

The Limba was led by seven clans, four from Sabarai (Mbura Lai, Kana Ketu, Meo Leok and Nggau Pandi) and three from Taratu (Nate Feo, Bibi Manek and Keka Dulu)—all of whom were represented by women of these clans, who, dressed in their finery, danced in unison. Thereafter, there was a running of horses and rituals at which a succession of riders at full gallop would pass and split open a coconut mounted on a pole.

In Thie, the rights of ceremonial performance by specific clans are still remembered, even if the ceremonies themselves have long ceased. This plethora of ceremonial memories, genealogical divisions and complex marriage arrangements—all markedly different from those of Termanu—constitute key cultural features that distinguish Thie as a domain. They also figure in its origin narratives. These narratives include references to ancestral founders, the moieties of Sabarai and Taratu and include one narrative, Recitation 7, which is intended to provide the origin of the Soru-Soru ceremony. This long recitation tells of the chant characters Masi Dande and Solo Suti, women who are transformed into a sea cow and turtle and hauled up onto the beach at Thie and there become the object of sacrifice and celebration. How precisely this was once linked to ceremonial actions is unexplained but nonetheless, this recitation is a foundation narrative of importance preserved from the past.

Other recitations from Thie overlap with those of Termanu to recount the primordial relationships between the Sun and Moon and the Lords of the Sea and their consequences: the discovery of fire, of cooking and the transfer of an array of cultural implements, the building of the first house, and the origins of rice and millet and other grains. The similarities in these narratives are evident as are some key differences. In the narratives of Thie, the building of the first house of the Sun and Moon fails, but its failure leads to the building of the first ancestral house. More significant are specific ancestral references that occur within these narratives. These narratives assume a knowledge of the genealogies of the domain. These genealogical references are a personalised aspect of the poetic narrative:

Au baing ia Tola Mesa	My grandfather Tola Mesa
Ma au sorong ia Le’e Lunu	And my ancestor Le’e Lunu
Tititin ma nonosin	His descendants and progeny
Kiki Tola mai dea	Kiki Tola comes out
Ma ba’ing Nggebu Nusa mai dea.	And my grandfather Nggebu Nusa comes out.1

Thie’s ancestral succession and Christian heritage

The name Tola Mesa is cited and evoked in Thie’s origin narratives. The ancestral line stemming from Tola Mesa has been Thie’s ruling family. This family has used the name Mesa—with various historical spellings: Mesa, Messa, Messakh—in its long dynastic succession. It is this line of ‘Mesak’ that is associated with the conversion of the domain to Christianity.

The signatory to the 1690 contract with the Dutch East India Company was the then ruler of Thie, Messa Poura (in the dialect of Thie: Mesa Mbura). In 1726, his successor, Poura Messa (Mbura Mesa), was given his staff of office by the Company and, three years later, he became the first Rotenese ruler to convert to Christianity. According to Dutch sources, Poura Messa and his entire family were baptised on 23 May 1728. Eight years before this royal conversion, Poura Messa’s son, whose Rotenese name was Foe Mbura, was baptised and took the Biblical name Benjamin. When Poura Messa died just a few years after his conversion, his son Foe Mbura or Benjamin Mesak claimed special status as a Christian ruler and set in train several changes that would affect the development of life on the island of Rote. Thie’s status as the first of Rote’s Christian domains gave the domain historical precedence and prominence. (These developments and their consequences are discussed at length in another chapter of this volume.)

In the oral histories, this conversion is represented expressly to give agency to the Rotenese themselves. It is represented as a quest led by the ruler of Thie, accompanied by the rulers of the neighbouring domains of Loleh and Ba’a, who sail to Batavia (Jakarta) to obtain Christianity and bring it back to Rote. This quest is elevated in its telling and is now recounted in ritual language among all the domains of the island. This account is referred to by the paired phrase Sangga Ndolu ma Tungga Lela (‘To Search for Wisdom and To Seek for Knowledge’). This recitation has become part of the repertoire of many Rotenese poets and exists in several versions of varying lengths in different dialects.

One short, densely metaphorical version of this recitation is by the poet G.A. Foeh from Thie. The ancestral journey to Batavia in the quest for the knowledge of Christianity is described in botanic terms as a quest for two trees, the bau koli and tui sina, which are brought back, planted on Rote and take root and flourish. Only in its concluding lines does this recitation explain that these trees are a metaphor for the knowledge of Christianity. The poet relies on the common Rotenese metaphoric equation that describes all human beings as ‘orphans and widows’ on the Earth.

Sangga Ndolu ma Tungga Lela²

Ma-uak neu bain	With good fortune for the ancestor
Ma-nalek neu aman	With great promise for the father
Bain tingga nala tonda lain	The ancestor steps onboard the perahu
Aman hene nala balun lain	The father climbs onboard the boat
Fo balun sangga ndolu	The boat that seeks for wisdom
Bain leko la neu langgan	The ancestor raises the sail at the head
Ma aman pale uli neu ikon	The father guides the rudder at the tail
Bain sida epo nduku Jabadiu daen	The ancestor sails for the land of Jabadiu
Ma aman neu losa Matabi oen.	And the father heads for the waters of Matabi.
Bain tati neni bau kolin	The ancestor cuts and brings the bau koli tree
No aman lo’o neni tui sina	While the father chops and brings the tui sina tree
Bain fua neu tonda lain	The ancestor stores it onboard his perahu
Ma aman ndae neu balu lain.	And the father places it onboard his boat.
Bain nenin neu nduku daen	The ancestor brings it back to [Rote’s] land
Ma aman neni losa Kale oen.	And the father brings it to Kale’s waters.
Bain sele Bau neu dano	The ancestor plants it in a lake
Ma aman tande Tui neu le.	And the father sows it in a river.
De bau don sengga dano	The bau tree’s leaves sprout in the lake
Ma tui oka ndoro le.	And the tui tree’s roots spread in the river.
Bali basa dae Rote	Extending all through Rote’s land
Ma ndule basa oe Kale	And spreading all through Kale’s waters
Ma ndule inggur	And through the territories
Ma nou basa leor	And to all the clans
De mboku dano ramahena	The crabs of the lake depend on it
Ma mboe le rakabani.	And the shrimp of the river rely on it.
Te mboke dano ta, te ana ma	But not lake crabs, but rather orphans
Ma mboe le ta, te falu inar	And not river shrimp, but rather widows
Ma bau koli ta, te de’a injil	And not a bau koli tree, but the gospel message
Ma tui sina ta, te Yesus hara lin.	And not a tui sina tree, but the voice of Jesus.

The origin narratives of Thie are tinged with passages that invoke the domain’s ancestral associations with Christianity. In Recitation 3 from Thie (Chapter 6), which recounts the building of the first ancestral house, there is a passage that attributes the origin of the knowledge of house building—and perhaps wisdom and knowledge in general—to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is referred to as the ‘Inside Patterner and Inner Marker’ (Dula Dale//Le’u Tei)—a dyadic set created and used throughout Rote in Christian discourse. The gift that the Holy Spirit brings is ‘Ninefold Wisdom and Eightfold Knowledge’ (Ndolu Sio//Lela Falu).

Lain atur malole	The Heavens order well
Ata atur mandak ia.	The Heights order properly.
Te fain esa no dalen	So, on one certain day
Ledok esa no serin na [tein]	At one particular time
Manadula Dale neu baing esa Tola Mesa	The Inside Patterner reaches to grandfather Tola Mesa
Ma Le’u Tei neu sorong esa Le’e Lunu	And the Inner Marker reaches to ancestor Le’e Lunu
Nene bonggi kara ruma Landu Kona	At the birthplace, Landu Kona
Ma rae kara ruma Tena Seri	And on the land, Tena Seri
Kara Fau Iko Oe	At the Water’s Tail of Fau
Ma Pandi Lua Langa daen	And the Land’s Head of Pandi Lua
Bei babi luak	Still sheltering in caves
Ma bei suru leak.	And still residing in grottoes.
Lai atur malole	The Heavens order well
Ana fe Dula Dalen, ana mai	Giving forth the Inside Patterner, he comes
Ana fe Le’u Tein, ana mai	Giving forth the Inner Marker, he comes
I konda Ndolu Sio nara mai	Bringing down the Ninefold Wisdom
Ma Lela Falu nara mai	And the Eightfold Knowledge
Ruma poin ia mai	From the Heavens it comes
Ma ruma ata ia mai.	From the Heights it comes.

In a subsequent passage, the clans of Sabarai and Taratu are invoked and linked to the Holy Spirit and the gift of wisdom bestowed on Thie’s ancestor:

Nai leo duahulu ma lima	Among the twenty-five clans
Sabarai ma nate Taratu	Sabarai and Taratu
Sabarai tititin	Sabarai’s descendants
Ma nate tetebe sara	And it is truly so
Neu Sakunara nonosin nara	To Sakunara’s progeny
Nduku faik ia dale so né.	To this very day.
Ndolu sio ria	The Ninefold Wisdom
Ma nate lela falu ria.	And the Eightfold Knowledge.
Dula Dale ma Le’u Teik	The Inside Patterner and Inner Marker
Sangga ana dadi tao leo ia	Seeks that it be so
Fo Kiki Tola mbembedan	For Kiki Tola’s legacy
Ma sangga ara mori tao leo na	And seeks that things are so
Fo Nggebu Nusa nanaen.	For Nggebu Nusa’s intention.

Unlike the oral narratives of Termanu that purport to portray a primordial past, the oral narratives of Thie reveal a social embeddedness and give evidence of the domain’s Christian heritage.

On narrators and narratives

Unlike my fieldwork in Termanu—where I lived for months within a lively community, was engaged in a variety of social activities and managed to record origin narratives only occasionally, somewhat haphazardly but sometimes opportunistically—my fieldwork in Thie was brief, directed and limited in scope. My first visit to Thie, however, came at the end of my time on Rote and I had, by then, a better understanding of Rotenese ritual language. I travelled to the village of Oe Handi in Thie explicitly to find the elder N.D. Pah, known as Guru Pah, whom I had been told repeatedly was one of the great men of knowledge on the island. When I met him, his first question to me was: ‘Why has it taken you so long to come to see me?’

During my short stay with Guru Pah, I was interested in understanding the workings of Thie’s moiety organisation because it was so different from any such organisation that I had investigated in Termanu or elsewhere in the east of Rote. Guru Pah, on the other hand, was interested in passing on to me two origin narratives of great importance. The first of these was Bole Sou ma Asa Nao, which narrates the origin of rice and millet and the celebration of their planting. This is Recitation 5 in the corpus of origin narratives from Thie. The second was the narrative Masi Dande ma Solo Suti, a recitation of more than 550 lines. This is Recitation 7 in the corpus from Thie.

I made my second short visit to Thie in 1973 during my return visit to Rote. Again, I travelled to Oe Handi and stayed at Guru Pah’s house. He introduced me to his close friend and fellow chanter Samuel Ndun with whom he was involved in ritual activities: a wedding and a funeral. Amid these activities, both Guru Pah and Samuel Ndun provided for me, separately or together, a further set of origin narratives. These are Recitations 1 through 4 in the corpus from Thie.

Like the origin narratives of Termanu, the initial narratives relate Thie’s account of the encounter of the Sun and Moon with the Lords of the Ocean and Sea and its consequences.

These narratives include the building of the ancestral house and the origin and spread of rice and millet. Essentially these narratives cover many of the same topics of origin as those of Termanu with similarities and differences that deserve consideration.

Many years later, in 2009, as part of an effort to understand more systematically the ritual-language traditions recounted across all the dialects of the island, I invited the elder and poet Jonas Mooy, along with other poets from Thie, to a recording session on Bali.³ Jonas was remarkable for his acute interest, not just in the traditions in which he was versed from Thie, but also in the traditions of the other domains of Rote on which he would reflect, compare and comment.

One of my requests to all the master poets who attended a recording session was whether they could and would recite a version of one of the most widely known chants on the island: Suti Solo do Bina Bane. Recitation 4 by Guru Pah and Samuel Ndun is a version of this chant. I had asked Jonas Mooy for a version and, in 2011, I was able to record his version, which is Recitation 5. Only after he had recited this narrative and we had worked through it carefully did I reveal to him the previous version I had recorded in 1973. We were then able to discuss both versions.⁴

Both Recitation 4 and Recitation 7 recount the origin and spread of the seeds of rice and millet on Rote, but Jonas Mooy’s narrative is also concerned with the ancestral celebration of the planting of these seeds, which was conducted at the first Limba ceremony. Recitation 4 alludes to this ceremony but does not elaborate on it as does Recitation 7.

More than the origin narratives in Termanu, the origin narratives of Thie relate to the origin ceremonies of the domain.

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1. 1 These are separate ancestral names. The succession of these names does not follow the normal succession of names: Tola Mesa > Kiki Tola marks a correct succession, but Le’e Lunu cannot give rise to Nggebu Nusa.

2. 2 This recitation, which was recorded in 2009, is not without its peculiarities. Batavia is referred to as Matabi//Jabadiu. I have no explanation for the term Jabadiu. The bau tree is Hibiscus tiliaceus, a relatively tall, highly decorative tree that is generally planted near water sources. I do not have an identification for its pair, the tui tree. Bau//tui is a well-established dyadic set metaphorically used as trees of knowledge, but the pair de’a injil//Jesus hara li would seem to be the personal creation of the poet.

3. 3 The Master Poets Project has, to date, held 11 recording sessions and has recorded 28 Rotenese master poets, many of whom attended more than one session. My first invitation to Jonas Mooy was for the fourth recording session of the project, in 2009. Because of his interests and abilities, I invited him for five subsequent sessions, in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2019.

4. 4 Master Poets, Ritual Masters (Fox 2016) is an extended comparative consideration of 20 versions of the chant Suti Solo do Bina Bane, recited by different poets from across the entire island of Rote. I began collecting versions of this chant in 1965 and have used it as a touchstone to evaluate poets whom I have encountered. This chant takes many shapes and, over the years, only a few poets have presented it as an origin narrative. In Termanu, for example, it is recited primarily as a mortuary chant. However, Old Meno presented it as an origin chant and his version is included as Recitation 9 in the Termanu corpus (Chapter 4). For a specific comparison of the two versions of this chant from Thie, see Chapters 17 and 18 of Master Poets, Ritual Masters (Fox 2016: 213–49).