Fire

As the newspapers testify, Indonesia likes a good fire. Every summer, farmers in Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo (illegally) clear their land with fire, causing smog uf unhealthy levels over South East Asia. We remember the dangerously polluted Kuala Lumpur last summer (see blog) and it’s happening again this year, despite warnings and criticism.

It’s not just the farmers of Sumatra and Kalimantan who like a good blaze: it’s something of a national pastime.

The first thing I noticed as I got off the plane in Lombok was the smell of burning. In Sengiggi and Materam, we noticed lots of small domestic fires to burn garbage.

Up Rinjani, there is a strictly no dumping policy which means everything gets burned, plastic bottles, the lot.

Yesterday we witnessed a cremation. This only happens every two years at an auspicious date in the Hindu calendar. First of all, people carry statues of horses through the streets at high speed while the crowds cheer and sing. This symbolizes a new phase of death for the deceased. The effigies are carried to the cremation ground along with the usual offerings of flowers and fruit and burned. It was one of those occasions when I felt totally detached, unable to grasp the cultural significance. I remember feeling that at the Yemanja festival in Salvador de Bahia too (see old blog).

The final fire reference is of course the fire dance. I’m not big on dance, but this was good. It is an example of a Kecak dance. There are no accompanying instruments, but music is provided by a choir of men wearing checked sarongs chanting “chak-a-chak-a-chak-a-chak-a”.