WE ARE MAKASSAE

ANTONIO SOARES

ABOUT MAKASSAE PEOPLE AND TELINAWA CELEMONY
by Antonio Constantino Soares

English

The Makassae language is mainly spoken in three main regions of East Timor--Baucau, Lospalos, and Viquque. According to Correia's research (2011:1) the ancestors of Makasae, as well as the other Trans-New Guinea languages of Timor, Pantar and Alor, came to the islands possibly 4,000 years ago as migrants from the Bomberai Peninsula of north-western Papua. Today, there are approximately 70,000 speakers, most of whom are farmers in remote villages.

Twice each year, the Makassae people of Quelicai perform the Telinawa or ‘corn harvest' ceremony in order to honor the ancestors who have passed away. If this ceremony is not performed, a disaster may come upon the people who are harvesting. The ancestors require a sacrifice, therefore the people sacrifice an animal based on their means. Common animals include chickens, pigs, buffalos or cows. In this way, they are appeasing the ancestors, and therefore no harm will come to the people.

This documentation project of the ceremony of telinawa, or corn harvest, was conducted to meet the requirements of a workshop in a very limited time frame. Therefore, any constructive criticism, comments or suggestions from those accessing this website are greatly appreciated.

This site also provides an introduction to the language and culture of Makassae, through videos and games.

Bahasa Indonesia

Bahasa Makassae digunakan oleh orang Makassae di tiga wilayah Timor Timur, yaitu Baucau, Lospalos, dan Viqueque. Berdasar hasil penelitian Correia's (2011:1), leluhur orang Makassae, seperti halnya leluhur orang-orang yang menggunakan bahasa rumpun Trans-New Guinea di Timor, Alor, dan Pantar, datang ke pulau tersebut sekitar 4.000 tahun lalu sebagai migran dari Bomberai, Papua Barat-Utara. Pada saat ini ada sekitar 70.000 penutur bahasa Makassae. Sebagian besar di antara mereka adalah petani di daerah-daerah terpencil.

Tiap dua kali dalam setahun, orang Makassae Quelicai melakukan upacara tradisional yang disebut Telinawa, yaitu upacara panen jagung, untuk menghormati leluhur mereka yang telah meninggal. Mereka percaya bahwa jika mereka tidak melakukannya, bencana akan menimpa masyarakat tersebut. Leluhur mereka memerlukan sesaji dengan menggunakan hewan sebagai wahananya. Hewan yang biasa digunakan untuk sesaji ialah ayam, babi, kerbau, dan sapi. Dengan cara ini mereka membahagiakan leluhurnya sehingga mereka terhindar dari bencana.

Proyek dokumentasi Telinawa atau upacara tradisional panen jagung ini dilakukan untuk keperluan worksop dokumentasi bahasa dalam waktu yang terbatas. Karena itu, kritik konstruktif, komentar, dan saran dari berbagai pihak sangat kami hargai.

Situs ini memberikan pengantar ke bahasa dan kebudayaaan Makakassae melalui paparan, foto, video, dan permainan.

GEOGRAPHY

TELINAWA PHOTOS

TELINAWA VIDEO

The CEREMONY

ANTONIO EXPLAINS ABOUT TELINAWA CEREMONY IN MAKASSAE

Here is the video.

surname

Soares

 name

Antonio Constantino

date of birth

1970/11/28

place of birth

Quelicai

 social status

teacher of English as Second Language

Makassae

Obrigado ba tempo asi nai Antonio Constantino Soares asi ani urulolowa resilolowa. ani eani ma'u dani I gau isplika aaa upakara udo a ana a suku quelekai ise de e're era gini ere upakara ginai teliko'e di nirauwai aaa pi ne'egu mara do teliko'e aaa ana' s aaa makasae gi mata la ne tengsere asa u gisa asa gisa ere matani gini asa gisa ere marado nidada ninanu nimui niniki geriwara aa eragau lolobo ini eani koisupa telisupa nawa nana iniii lisensa uma igaugini do ma'u do pi tapuli telisupa nawa ne'e gu telikoe laka tenkser mara bua malu ma aaa wuidane bua malu ere marado nidada ninanu nimui niniki eee ginai estamu pi ne'egu teliko'e ere tengser asa gisa asama eragau gisa asa ere tanima eragau gisa asa ere gisa ere pi eee eee marado nige'e lisensa u ma eragau dane ma'udo pi asa gisa asa aumu lakare pi asagi ari ena asagi ari ena ere mataani gjni giari ena laku pidada pinanu pimui piniki gimutu pigau sisiri di tonai eragimuti pigau sisiri laku asagi ari ere manamutu'e boo pimui piniki pidada pinanu gimutu pigau pinoto gau (si)siri ere laka asagi ari girau asagi ari auena lakar laku marado pi asagisa asagisa aaa augoba audapuru wori pi werau (tu) tu werau tu nawa tengsere aaa tinani asagi ari asagi basakula aunamadaru aunamadaru eee Auma laida pidada pi(i)nanu pimui piniki augeriwara tingse eragau tumauidani eragau mauidani erdete pi(i) e(e) nawa au'sai nawa laka (ee) seu nawa waasi do pi aima namadaru minima odane do pi taguba nawa pi taguba nawa erani eeee pi nai ininawa omagi dadaere naini nawa ana do o bania piguba ediara ere werau eragau bati bo era palunu werau nawa pinai ausai nawa lakare pi aigoba naula'a urudao erani te pi telikoe pi teliko'e eee koinawa ee koinawa koisupa nawa erte pi minigalima'u au mau pige'e omafalunu ere eee pi ausai nawalakare pige'e bua malu ado wa'asi pi aane'egu upakara giniere pierama tagau bati bua malu ere pi sisiri laka ere nige'e bua malu ere na'u tia ma ere laka pi airau werau menigali la'a do ooo ospital isi la'a do sari nawa tosai nai'u ere pidada pinanu gi pitulunu de'e eee pi(i) eragane ere pi werau erau nelu do erene airau erenai obrigado barak

English

Thank you for the time My name is Antonio Constantino Soares I am 44 years old now I am going to explain you about one ceremony done by makasai people in quelecai (by) the name of the ceremony is teliko'e before corn harvesting (harvesting) people of makasae must do this ritual chicken sacrifice why must chickens be sacrificed? by sacrificing this in order to call or to remind their ancestors that now makasae people are going to have corn harvesting and paddy harvesting we would like to have ancestor's permission to invite them to participate in corn harvest ceremony before harvesting the corn there must be preparation of areca nuts and betel leaf the ancestor's name must be mentioned before the corn harvest the owner of the field must sacrifice a chicken chicken for the ancestors by sacrificing these chickens filler we receive permission from the ancestors when the chickens have been killed, the chicken's heart must be examined in order to know whether the ancestors are angry or pleased There will be a sign in the heart of the chicken if the ancestors are not pleased if the ancestors are not angry the heart of the chicken will be good after examining the heart of the chicken the chicken will be cooked after the chickn is cooked the heart of the chicken must be dedicated to the ancestors before eating some other parts of the chicken must be dedicated to the ancestors by putting them on the pole of the house then the owner of the ceremony will eat together after eating together, the food that was dedicated to the ancestors on the pole will be shared only with the family of the ancestors the guests who attend the ceremony will not eat the food that has been dedicated to the ancestors after eating, the people who do the ceremony go home after six months, the makassae people come back and do the same thing the areca nuts and betel leaf must be distributed to all the participants to be consumed in order to protect them from being attacked by disaster people do not need to go to hospital for medication if they get sick because they are protected by their ancestors thank you very much

LEARN MAKASSAE ALPHABET

GAMES FOR LEARNING MAKASSAE WORDS IN

Enlish

Flashcard


Learn


Scatter


Space Race


Test

Bahasa Indonesia

Flashcard


Learn


Scatter


Space Race


Test

OUR TEAM

  • Antonio: Timor Leste, Master of Linguistics student at Udayana State University in Bali and Teacher of English as Second Language at Helping Hands Institute

  • Elga: Italy, JSPS Research Fellow at National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics

  • Nanae: Japan, undergraduate student of Linguistics at University of Tokyo

  • Hannah: Maldives, Teacher at Mandhu College

  • Katubi: Indonesia, Researcher at Indonesia Institute of Sciences

  • Makoto: Japan, PhD student/JSPS Research Fellow in Swahili at Kyoto University

  • So: Japan, PhD student/JSPS Research Fellow in Egyptian-Coptic Linguistics at Kyoto University