Luka Baljkas photography

Ceremony on mountain Babulo near Viqueqe in east part of Timor Leste, 22 November 2003. Although Timorese are mainly Catholics, animist beliefs still exist and are syncretized with Catholicism. Babulo, the sacred mountain is linked with its ancestors. At the ceremony people from two villages walk to the mountain and perform rituals of animal sacrifices (water buffalo, pigs). This ceremony is believed to secure ancestral blessing for the success of the upcoming planting season. The ritual lasts for the whole night where chants are performed, and animals are sacrificed and prepared for food. Next day the leftover rice and meat is brought back to villagers. Animist ceremonies were banned during Indonesian occupation (1975-1999) and this ceremony was the first one that took place since then. I was invited by the award-winning freelance journalist, Max Stahl, together with few other ‘white’ people to attend this interesting ceremony... so I took few images ..