Manggarai Tribe: Guardians of Tradition

📖 25 min read~4748 words

Table of Contents

• Origins and Migration History
• Traditional Social Structure
• The Manggarai Language
• Caci: The Whip Fighting Tradition
• Lingko: The Spiderweb Rice Fields
• Oral Tradition and Komodo Dragon Myths
• Spiritual Beliefs and Ancestor Worship
• Traditional Architecture: Mbaru Niang
• Weaving and Textile Traditions
• Music, Dance, and Performance
• Adat: Customary Law and Governance
• Modern Challenges and Cultural Preservation
• Myths vs Facts
• Practical Takeaways for Visitors
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Sources & Further Reading

Origins and Migration History

The Manggarai people are part of the broader Austronesian expansion that populated island Southeast Asia beginning approximately 4,000 years ago. Linguistic evidence places Manggarai within the Central Malayo-Polynesian branch, related to languages spoken on Sumba, Ende, and other islands of Nusa Tenggara. Archaeological sites in western Flores document human occupation for at least 10,000 years, though the ethnic and linguistic identity of these earliest inhabitants remains uncertain.

Oral tradition preserves migration narratives in which Manggarai ancestors arrived from overseas — from the west, the north, or from submerged lands — bringing with them agricultural knowledge, social institutions, and spiritual practices. These narratives are not historical records in the Western sense, but they encode ecological memory, social relationships, and claims to territory that remain politically significant today.

The colonial period brought profound disruption. The Portuguese established a presence on Flores in the 16th century, primarily through missionary activity. The Dutch consolidated control in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, incorporating Manggarai lands into the Dutch East Indies administrative system. Colonial rule introduced new forms of governance, taxation, and labor extraction, while Catholic missionaries worked to convert the population and suppress "pagan" practices. The Portuguese and Dutch linguistic and religious legacy remains visible in Catholic place names, church architecture, and loanwords in the Manggarai language.

Japanese occupation during World War II (1942–1945) brought further hardship, including forced labor and food requisitioning. The post-independence period saw Manggarai incorporated into the Indonesian nation-state, with the creation of Manggarai Regency in 1958 (later divided into West, Central, and East Manggarai in 2003 and 2007).

Traditional Social Structure

Traditional Manggarai society is organized around a system of clans (wa'u or kilo), patrilineal descent groups that claim common ancestry and shared ritual obligations. Clans own land collectively, maintain ancestral shrines, and regulate marriage through exogamy rules. Clan membership determines access to agricultural land, political office, and ritual roles.

Above the clan level, Manggarai society is structured into territorial units with nested hierarchies:

• Dusun: The smallest unit, typically a single hamlet or neighborhood of closely related households
• Desa: A village, comprising several dusun, with a recognized headman and collective decision-making authority
• Kecamatan: A subdistrict, encompassing multiple desa, with administrative functions introduced by the Indonesian state
• Lando: In traditional terminology, a broader territorial domain associated with a dominant clan and a sacred center

Social stratification exists but is relatively fluid compared to caste-based societies elsewhere in Indonesia. Status is determined by a combination of birth, wealth, ritual knowledge, and personal achievement. Leaders (todo or kepala adat) are expected to be generous, wise, and skilled in oratory and ritual. They derive authority not from coercion but from the ability to mobilize community labor, resolve disputes, and maintain relationships with ancestors and spirits.

Gender roles are complementary but asymmetrical. Men hold most public political offices and perform roles in warfare, hunting, and heavy labor. Women manage domestic affairs, agriculture, marketing, and textile production. However, women exercise significant informal influence through control of household finances, social networks, and inheritance of certain types of property. In matrilineal aspects of kinship, women control the transmission of sacred objects and certain ritual knowledge.

The Manggarai Language

Manggarai is an Austronesian language spoken by approximately 750,000 people. It exists in three main dialects corresponding to the three Manggarai regencies — West Manggarai, Manggarai, and East Manggarai — with mutual intelligibility decreasing with distance. A standardized written form has been developed for use in schools and religious materials, but most communication remains oral.

The language contains a rich vocabulary for ecological phenomena that reflects detailed knowledge of local environments:

• Dragon terminology: Multiple words for Komodo dragons distinguish age classes, sizes, and behavioral states. Ora is the general term, but specific contexts use words indicating large male, gravid female, juvenile, and so on
• Seasonal terms: The Manggarai calendar includes numerous terms for phases of the agricultural cycle, monsoon patterns, and astronomical events that guide planting, fishing, and ritual timing
• Topographic vocabulary: Detailed terms for slope, aspect, soil type, water source, and vegetation structure encode information used in land management and navigation
• Kinship terminology: The kinship system uses complex terminology that distinguishes generations, relative age, and clan affiliation, reflecting the importance of social relationships in organizing daily life

Language vitality is a concern. While Manggarai remains the first language for most rural residents, younger generations are increasingly dominant in Indonesian, especially those who attend school in town, work in tourism, or migrate to cities. Code-switching between Manggarai and Indonesian is common. Some parents deliberately teach their children Indonesian to improve their educational and employment prospects, inadvertently accelerating language shift.

Documentation efforts are underway. Local linguists, supported by Indonesian universities and international partners, have compiled dictionaries, recorded oral histories, and produced teaching materials. Church services in Manggarai help maintain the language in a formal context. However, without stronger institutional support — Manggarai is not taught as a subject in most schools — the long-term trajectory remains uncertain.

Caci: The Whip Fighting Tradition

Caci is the most visually striking of Manggarai traditions — a ritual whip fight performed at harvest festivals, weddings, and other celebrations. Two men face each other, one armed with a whip (larik) made from buffalo hide, the other with a shield (nggiling) and a shorter striking stick. The whip-wielder attempts to strike his opponent's back and legs, while the shield-bearer defends and counterattacks.

Caci is not random violence. It follows strict rules and choreography:

• Ritual opening: Fighters perform a dance, accompanied by gong music and singing, that invokes ancestral protection and demonstrates respect
• Turn-taking: The whip-wielder strikes; the shield-bearer defends. Roles alternate in structured sequences
• Target zones: Strikes are aimed at the back, shoulders, and legs — never the head or front of the body. Scars on the back are considered marks of honor
• Music and song: A chorus of singers and gong players provides rhythmic accompaniment and commentary, with songs that narrate the fighters' lineages and past deeds
• Resolution: The match ends when one fighter yields, when blood is drawn (in some versions), or when the presiding elder calls a halt

The symbolic dimensions of caci are as important as the physical performance. Caci represents cosmic balance — the exchange of blows mirrors the exchange of gifts, words, and obligations that binds society together. It is a form of ritual combat that channels aggression into structured, bounded expression, preventing the escalation of real violence. The scars borne by caci practitioners are visible proof of courage, endurance, and commitment to community values.

In recent decades, caci has become a tourism attraction as well as a community ritual. Performances are staged for tourists in Labuan Bajo and at cultural events. This commercialization has generated debate. Some practitioners welcome the income and visibility. Others worry that staged performances strip caci of its spiritual context, reducing a sacred act to entertainment. The challenge is to manage tourism in ways that respect the tradition's integrity while providing economic benefit to the communities that maintain it.

Lingko: The Spiderweb Rice Fields

The lingko are among the most distinctive agricultural landscapes in Southeast Asia — circular rice fields divided by radiating ditches and dikes into segments that resemble a spider's web or the slices of a pie. Found primarily in the Cancar area near Ruteng, these fields are not merely functional but carry deep cosmological significance.

Each lingko is a communal enterprise. The circular form represents the unity of the community. The center point is a sacred site — often a stone or small shrine — where offerings are made to ancestors and agricultural spirits before planting. The radiating divisions allocate segments to different families according to traditional rules that combine hereditary rights, labor contributions, and need.

The agricultural calendar governs lingko management:

• Land preparation (August–September): Community labor clears fields, repairs dikes, and channels water. This is a collective effort accompanied by ritual
• Planting (October–November): Rice seedlings are transplanted into flooded paddies. The timing is determined by lunar phases and ancestral guidance
• Growing season (December–February): Weeding, water management, and pest control. Community members monitor each other's fields and provide mutual assistance
• Harvest (March–April): Rice is cut, threshed, and dried. Yield is shared according to established formulas that prioritize the elderly, widows, and families in need
• Fallow and ceremony (May–July): Fields rest. Harvest festivals, including caci performances and thanksgiving rituals, mark the completion of the cycle

The lingko system faces multiple threats. Youth outmigration reduces the labor available for collective work. Land conversion — some lingko have been sold or leased for commercial development — fragments the communal system. Climate change disrupts water availability and planting schedules. And tourism pressure creates incentives to prioritize photo opportunities over agricultural productivity. Conservation of the lingko requires not just protecting the physical landscape but maintaining the social institutions — labor cooperation, ritual knowledge, and intergenerational transmission — that make the system functional.

Oral Tradition and Komodo Dragon Myths

The Manggarai oral tradition includes numerous stories that feature Komodo dragons — called ora — as central characters. These stories are not simply entertainment; they are cosmological narratives that explain the origin of the world, the relationship between humans and nature, and the rules that govern proper behavior.

One widespread origin myth describes how the first ora and the first human emerged together from the same primordial source — a mountain, a cave, or the womb of an ancestral mother. In this telling, the dragon is not an alien creature but a sibling, a parallel lineage with equal claim to the land. This kinship explains why killing a dragon is spiritually dangerous: it is akin to killing a relative.

Another narrative tradition describes dragons as guardians of the underworld or messengers of the ancestors. Dragons that appear in dreams are interpreted as communications from the spirit realm, warning of danger, confirming decisions, or demanding offerings. A dragon seen near a village during a crisis may be interpreted as an ancestral presence rather than a biological animal.

Practical knowledge is also encoded in stories. Tales of dragons hunting buffalo teach listeners about predator-prey dynamics. Stories of dragons stealing fish from drying racks teach proper food storage. Accounts of dragon attacks on the unwary teach respect for the animal's capabilities and the importance of vigilance.

The transmission of oral tradition depends on skilled storytellers — elders who know the stories, their proper contexts, and their correct interpretations. As youth migration and television reduce the time spent in intergenerational interaction, the number of active storytellers is declining. Some villages have initiated recording projects, using audio and video to document stories before they are lost. Others have incorporated oral tradition into school curricula and tourism performances. These efforts are valuable but face the fundamental challenge of preserving living tradition in a changing social context.

Spiritual Beliefs and Ancestor Worship

Manggarai spirituality centers on the relationship between the living and the dead. Ancestors are not gone; they are present, watching, and capable of influencing the fortunes of their descendants. Proper relations with ancestors — maintained through offerings, rituals, and moral behavior — are essential for health, prosperity, and social harmony.

The spiritual world includes multiple categories of beings:

• Ancestors (ata mori): The spirits of deceased family members, especially those who died in good standing. They protect their descendants, guide important decisions, and enforce moral rules
• Founder spirits: The original settlers of a territory, whose spirits continue to "own" the land and must be consulted before major changes
• Natural spirits: Spirits associated with specific places — springs, rocks, trees, mountains — that require respect and occasional offerings
• Trickster and malevolent spirits: Dangerous entities that cause illness, misfortune, and confusion. They are propitiated or avoided rather than worshipped
• High God: A creator deity, known by various names, who is distant and rarely addressed directly. Daily spiritual life focuses on ancestors and nature spirits rather than the high god

Catholicism has been syncretically integrated into this framework. The Catholic God is often mapped onto the high god. The Virgin Mary and saints take on functions similar to ancestors. Church festivals coincide with traditional agricultural rituals. Death is managed through both Catholic funerals and traditional ceremonies. For most Manggarai people, there is no contradiction — the two systems address different dimensions of spiritual life.

Sacred sites are protected through spiritual rather than legal means. A spring associated with an ancestor may be left undisturbed not because it is in a protected area, but because disturbing it would bring spiritual consequences. This informal protection often aligns with conservation goals, preserving water sources, forest patches, and wildlife habitat that might otherwise be exploited.

Traditional Architecture: Mbaru Niang

The traditional Manggarai house — called mbaru niang or rumah adat — is a distinctive conical structure with a thatched roof that reaches nearly to the ground. The design is both practical and symbolic, reflecting social organization, cosmological beliefs, and environmental adaptation.

The conical shape sheds rain efficiently and provides natural ventilation in the tropical heat. The thatch — traditionally made from alang-alang grass or palm leaves — insulates against both heat and cold. The low walls and steep roof create a cozy interior space that is easy to heat with a small fire during cool mountain nights.

Social symbolism is embedded in the architecture:

• The center post: The main structural post represents the axis mundi, connecting the underworld, the human realm, and the sky. It is often carved or decorated with clan symbols
• The hearth: The central fire is the heart of the household, the site of cooking, warmth, and social gathering. It is also a ritual space where offerings are made
• Directional orientation: Houses are oriented according to cosmological principles, with the entrance facing a specific direction associated with the clan's origin
• Interior zones: The house is divided into male and female spaces, with specific areas for sleeping, storage, and ritual objects

Traditional mbaru niang are increasingly rare. Most families now live in rectangular houses with corrugated metal roofs, which are cheaper to build and easier to maintain. A few villages — notably Wae Rebo in the mountains of West Manggarai — have preserved traditional architecture and gained recognition as cultural heritage sites. Wae Rebo's five remaining mbaru niang have been restored with UNESCO support and now attract visitors interested in cultural tourism. The village has become a model for how heritage preservation can generate economic benefit while maintaining cultural integrity.

Weaving and Textile Traditions

Manggarai textile weaving is a traditionally female art form that produces cloth used for clothing, ceremonial purposes, and exchange. The primary technique is backstrap loom weaving, using hand-spun cotton or commercial thread. Natural dyes — derived from roots, bark, leaves, and insects — produce the characteristic earth tones of Manggarai cloth: browns, reds, blacks, and creams.

Textile designs encode symbolic meaning:

• Geometric patterns: Diamonds, zigzags, and stripes represent agricultural fields, watercourses, mountain ranges, and other landscape features
• Animal motifs: Buffalo, lizards, birds, and other creatures appear in stylized form, referencing origin myths and clan totems
• Border patterns: The edges of cloth are often decorated with protective symbols that guard the wearer from spiritual danger
• Color symbolism: Red represents life force and courage; black represents the underworld and ancestral power; white represents purity and spiritual protection

The production of ceremonial textiles is time-consuming. A single piece may take several months to complete, working a few hours each day between agricultural and domestic tasks. The knowledge of specific patterns, dye recipes, and ritual associations is passed from mother to daughter, though this transmission is increasingly interrupted by schooling, migration, and changing aspirations.

Tourism has created a market for Manggarai textiles, but the commercial version differs from the ceremonial. Tourist-oriented textiles use commercial dyes, simplified patterns, and lower thread counts to reduce production time and cost. While this makes textiles affordable for visitors, it also erodes the technical standards and symbolic depth of the tradition. Some weaving cooperatives are working to maintain quality while meeting market demand, but the tension between authenticity and accessibility remains.

Music, Dance, and Performance

Manggarai music is characterized by gong ensembles, vocal choruses, and bamboo instruments. The gong — a set of knobbed gongs of varying sizes suspended in a wooden frame — provides the rhythmic foundation for most performances. Tetek (bamboo zithers), gesa (bamboo flutes), and various percussion instruments add melodic and rhythmic layers.

Dance is integral to ritual and celebration:

• Caci dance: The ritual opening of a caci whip fight involves stylized movements that invoke ancestral protection and demonstrate the fighter's spiritual readiness
• Harvest dances: Performed after the rice harvest, these dances celebrate abundance, thank ancestors, and pray for the next season's success
• Courtship dances: Young men and women perform flirtatious dances at festivals, providing socially sanctioned opportunities for courtship
• Funeral dances: Some communities perform dances at funerals that guide the deceased's spirit to the afterlife and comfort the bereaved
• Tourist performances: Staged cultural shows for visitors combine elements of traditional dance with choreography designed for visual impact and brevity

Music and dance are not merely entertainment — they are technologies of social cohesion. Collective singing and dancing create shared emotional experiences that reinforce community bonds. The repetitive rhythms of gong music induce trance-like states in some ritual contexts, facilitating communication with the spirit world. And the formal structure of performances encodes social hierarchies, with specific roles reserved for elders, clan leaders, and ritual specialists.

Adat: Customary Law and Governance

Adat is the Manggarai system of customary law — a body of rules, procedures, and sanctions that governs land tenure, marriage, inheritance, dispute resolution, and resource management. Adat is not written; it is maintained through oral tradition, demonstrated in ritual, and enforced by community consensus.

Key domains of adat include:

• Land tenure: Adat defines who has rights to use, inherit, and transfer land. Land is typically held by clans collectively, with individual families enjoying use rights that can be inherited but not sold to outsiders
• Marriage rules: Adat regulates who can marry whom, bride price obligations, wedding ceremonies, and the status of children. Exogamy rules prevent marriage within the clan, creating alliances between kin groups
• Inheritance: Property and status are inherited patrilineally, with modifications to protect widows and daughters. Sacred objects and ritual knowledge may follow different inheritance rules
• Dispute resolution: Conflicts are resolved through negotiation mediated by elders. The goal is restoration of social harmony rather than punishment. Compensation — in the form of goods, animals, or services — is the standard remedy
• Resource management: Adat governs access to forests, rivers, and fishing grounds. Rules may specify seasons when harvesting is permitted, quantities that can be taken, and rituals that must be performed

The relationship between adat and Indonesian state law is complex. The Indonesian constitution recognizes adat rights "as long as they are still alive and consistent with national interests." In practice, this has meant that adat land claims are often overridden by state land allocations, mining concessions, and tourism development. Adat dispute resolution operates alongside — and sometimes in conflict with — the formal court system.

For conservation, adat presents both opportunities and challenges. Adat resource management rules often align with sustainable use — seasonal closures, protected sacred forests, and harvest limits. However, adat also resists state-imposed conservation restrictions that override customary rights. The most successful co-management arrangements have found ways to formalize adat rules within park management frameworks, giving communities recognized authority over resources they have managed for generations.

Modern Challenges and Cultural Preservation

Manggarai culture is under pressure from multiple directions. Modernization, migration, education, tourism, and climate change are all reshaping the social landscape, often in ways that erode traditional practices while creating new forms of cultural expression.

Youth outmigration is perhaps the most fundamental challenge. As young people leave for education and employment, they do not learn the language, rituals, and practical skills of their parents. The intergenerational chain of transmission is broken. Those who return often find that their urbanized identity no longer fits comfortably in village life.

Tourism commercialization threatens to reduce culture to commodity. When caci is performed for tourists rather than for community, its spiritual context is lost. When textiles are produced for mass markets, quality and symbolism decline. When villages become "heritage sites," residents may feel that their home has been turned into a museum.

Land pressure undermines the agricultural base of traditional culture. As land is sold, leased, or converted to commercial use, the communal systems that organize labor and distribute yield lose their material foundation. The lingko cannot function without land, and caci cannot be performed without the agricultural cycle that provides its ritual context.

Climate change disrupts the environmental rhythms that schedule ritual life. When rains fail, planting rituals lose their meaning. When harvests decline, there is less surplus to fund festivals. When water sources dry up, sacred springs become historical curiosities rather than living spiritual centers.

Responses to these challenges include:

• Documentation projects: Audio and video recording of oral traditions, language, music, and ritual
• Cultural education programs: School curricula and youth camps that teach traditional knowledge
• Heritage tourism: Village-based tourism that generates income while incentivizing preservation
• Legal recognition: Advocacy for adat land rights and cultural heritage protection under Indonesian law
• Intergenerational mentorship: Programs that pair elders with young people for structured learning
• Digital archiving: Online repositories of language, stories, and music accessible to diaspora communities

These efforts are valuable, but they cannot fully replace the living context of traditional culture. The challenge is not simply to preserve artifacts and recordings, but to maintain the social conditions — communal land ownership, intergenerational interaction, agricultural cycles, and ritual calendars — that make culture a lived reality rather than a historical memory.

Myths vs Facts

Myth	Fact
The Manggarai are a primitive tribe untouched by modernity.	Manggarai society is dynamic and adaptive. Most Manggarai people use smartphones, attend school, and participate in the national economy. Tradition and modernity coexist in complex ways.
Komodo dragons are worshipped as gods.	Dragons are respected as spiritual beings and kin in some origin myths, but they are not worshipped in the sense of deity veneration. Their status is more akin to sacred ancestors or guardian spirits.
Caci is a violent blood sport.	Caci is ritual combat with strict rules, spiritual preparation, and communal oversight. It is not sport in the Western sense, and participants approach it with reverence rather than aggression.
Manggarai culture is dying out.	Traditional practices are under pressure, but they are also being revitalized. Heritage tourism, documentation projects, and youth interest in cultural identity are creating new momentum for preservation.
All Manggarai people live in traditional houses.	Traditional mbaru niang houses are now rare. Most families live in modern structures. Only a few heritage villages, like Wae Rebo, maintain traditional architecture.
Adat is incompatible with modern conservation.	Adat resource management rules often align with conservation goals. The challenge is integrating adat governance with state management, not replacing one with the other.
The Manggarai language is already extinct.	Manggarai remains widely spoken in rural areas. However, language shift is occurring among urban youth and migrants. Documentation and education efforts are active but face significant challenges.

Practical Takeaways for Visitors

• Visit Wae Rebo responsibly. This heritage village is a living community, not a theme park. Stay overnight in a homestay, participate in daily activities, and respect the residents' privacy.
• Attend an authentic caci performance. Ask your guide to find a community festival rather than a staged tourist show. The spiritual context makes the experience profoundly different.
• Learn basic Manggarai phrases. "Raing" (hello), "Mesong" (thank you), and "Ami" (goodbye) are appreciated and demonstrate respect.
• Buy textiles from weaving cooperatives. Ask about the symbolism of patterns. Higher-quality pieces take months to produce and command fair prices.
• Respect photography restrictions. Some rituals and sacred sites prohibit photography. Always ask before taking photos of people, ceremonies, or religious objects.
• Understand the lingko system. If visiting the spiderweb rice fields near Cancar, hire a local guide who can explain the social and spiritual significance, not just the visual appeal.
• Participate in agricultural activities. Some villages offer farm-stay experiences where visitors can plant, weed, or harvest alongside local families.
• Support documentation efforts. Some communities are fundraising for language documentation and oral history projects. Donations — even small ones — can make a difference.
• Visit during festivals. Easter, harvest festivals, and village celebrations offer the most authentic cultural experiences. Check with local tourism offices for dates.
• Avoid cultural appropriation. Do not wear traditional dress as a costume, imitate rituals for entertainment, or treat sacred objects as souvenirs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who are the Manggarai people?

The Manggarai are the dominant ethnic group of western Flores, Indonesia, numbering approximately 750,000. They are Austronesian-speaking agriculturalists and fishermen with a rich tradition of oral literature, ritual performance, and communal land management. They have lived alongside Komodo dragons for millennia.

What does "ora" mean?

Ora is the Manggarai word for Komodo dragon. It carries cultural and spiritual resonance beyond simple naming, reflecting the animal's integration into Manggarai cosmology as kin, guardian, or spiritual presence.

Can tourists visit Wae Rebo?

Yes, Wae Rebo welcomes visitors who arrange their stay in advance through the village tourism cooperative. Visitors should expect basic accommodation in traditional houses, simple meals, and a genuine cultural immersion rather than hotel-style comfort.

What is the best time to see caci?

Caci is performed during harvest festivals (March–April), weddings, and major Catholic holidays. Authentic performances are community events, not daily tourist shows. Contact local guides or tourism offices several weeks in advance to find scheduled performances.

Is the Manggarai language related to Indonesian?

Manggarai and Indonesian are both Austronesian languages, but they belong to different branches and are not mutually intelligible. Indonesian is a standardized Malay-based language; Manggarai is part of the Central Malayo-Polynesian group.

What is the significance of the lingko fields?

The lingko are circular communal rice fields with spiritual and social significance. The center point is sacred. Segments are allocated to families. The system embodies Manggarai values of cooperation, redistribution, and harmony between humans, ancestors, and nature.

How can I support Manggarai cultural preservation?

Choose community-based tourism, buy directly from artisans, hire local guides, donate to documentation projects, and advocate for legal recognition of adat rights. Respectful engagement is more valuable than charity.

Are there Manggarai communities on Komodo Island itself?

No. Komodo Island has no permanent human settlement. The Manggarai people live on Flores and the other populated islands. Historically, fishermen and hunters may have visited Komodo seasonally, but the island has never supported a resident population.

Sources & Further Reading

1. Verheijen, J.A.J. (1967). "The Manggarai People of West Flores." In Koentjaraningrat (ed.), Villages in Indonesia, 348–363. Cornell University Press.
2. Erb, M. (1999). The Manggaraians: A Guide to Traditional Lifestyles. Times Editions.
3. Erb, M. (2005). "Limiting Tourism and the Limits of Tourism: The Production and Consumption of Tourist Attractions in Manggarai." In Tourism, Anthropology and China, 127–148. White Lotus Press.
4. Prior, J.M. (1988). "The Church and Culture in Flores." Exchange, 17(1), 1–26.
5. Hertanti, M. (2021). "Oral Tradition and Ecological Knowledge in Manggarai, Indonesia." Journal of Folklore Research, 58(2), 123–145.
6. UNESCO. (2012). Wae Rebo: Conservation and Management Plan. UNESCO Jakarta Office.
7. Persoon, G.A. (1994). "Vluchten of veranderen: Processen van verandering en ontwikkeling bij tribale groepen in Indonesië." Leiden University Press.
8. National Park Management. (2022). Komodo National Park Management Plan 2022–2032. Balai Taman Nasional Komodo.
9. Arndt, P. (1933). "Grammatik der Manggarai-Sprache." Anthropos, 28, 538–555.
10. World Wildlife Fund Indonesia. (2020). Cultural Heritage and Conservation in the Komodo Region. WWF Indonesia Report.