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17 Restricted Things to Avoid in Lombok

Review by : Yuli SE., MM

Lombok can be categorized as a place with people who uphold their cultural habit up high. There are still many tribe who care about manners and good habits. Here are some things to avoid in Lombok:

Visiting Gunung Wayang Island

When you are planning on enjoying your time while in Lombok by going to the Selong Belanak beach, there is this one myth about Gunung Wayang island you see near the coastal line. You are prohibited to go there without getting any permission from Sasak tribal council, Amaq Salamah. There would be a prior rituals before letting you step onto the island if you don’t want to die going there, in accordance with the fact that Lombok have a lot of sacred areas and local people do a lot of traditions in Lombok.

Being Ignorant while Climbing Rinjani Mountain

Lombok is famous for its Rinjani Mountain that most of the mount climber and nature seeker likes to climb onto the top. Besides its magnificent scenery along the tracks, this mountain hold an ancient myth that says this mountain is a place to reside for a goddess, the queen of all genie, Dewi Anjani. Local people believe there live so many genie in the mountain so that we have to be very careful with ourselves. We need to be polite and respectful to the nature and the mountain itself so then we’ll be coming back home safely.

Picking Up Edelweiss Flower

This flower often called as Edelweiss, but local communities has its their own nickname for it: it is ‘Sandar Nyawa’ flower. The name means that we have to sacrifice ourselves in order to just picking up this everlasting beauty because it lives on the brink, an extreme edge of a mountain.

It’s also special because this flower won’t ever get wizened and would stay the way they are the last time you plucked them from its root, so it’s famous for its eternal beauty. But, you are not allowed to bring it home for your loved one because you need to remember how sacred this mountain where Edelweiss lives is. It’s better off not to seek for any further potential problem.

Doing Sexual Intercourse

As explained earlier in point number 2, we have to be very mindful with what we’re doing in Mount Rinjani. And doing any sexual intercourse is something too taboo to do while you’re there. Just enjoy your time bonding with nature, yourself, and your friends. Don’t ever crossed in your mind to throw down the gauntlet to any invisible creatures out there. Just be nice.

Try Meditating in ‘Milk’ Cave without Any Good Intention

There’s this one creed that says anyone who dare to visit and meditate in one of 3 caves in Mount Rinjani but themselves haven’t own a good heart will always find hardship along the way. The entrance would be seen small, the cave would be felt too hot, and so on. But the ones with pure heart will find it very reflective for their souls after meditating in the cave.

Disparaging the ‘Nyale’ Myth

Nyale is another word for a type of sea worms that happen to appear near the shore for every 20^th day of 10^th month in Sasak Tribe traditional calendar. Local people believe that nyale is an incarnation of Princess Mandalika, a famous loving woman from Sasak tribe. They also held an annual event celebrating the return of nyale along the coastal line as a people’s party, as one of the most famous cultural activities in Lombok. Apart from the fact that maybe we just don’t want or need to know further about it, we just need to respect their belief and not disparage it. Respect other people’s way of life.

Entering Namada Park when Having a Period

There lies a water fount that famous for its ability to give its drinker an ageless life benefit. Basically anyone can go there and follow the rituals to finally able to drink the ‘ageless’ water. But, unfortunately there is a note for women with period. They can’t get the access to go into Tirta Hall, a meeting place of three water sources, namely Suranadi, Lingsar, and Narmada itself. Just like other holy places this rule is there because of a sacred issue, while women with period are categorized as unclean and need to wait until they’re re-chaste again after the menstruation has stopped.

Catching the Fish from Suranadi Temple

Suranadi temple is located in Narmada district, only 5km from Narmada temple. This is the first ever temple built in Lombok so that local people decide this one as a sacred area. They boarded out numbers of fishes into the 5 water fountain ponds around this area and no one could ever permitted to take any of it. So, instead of stealing some sacred fishes from sacred water sources, we still could wash our face and drink some water from it and hopefully would make us ageless and providential.

Using Left-Hand while Interacting with Others

A lot of Indonesian tribe and traditional people believe and still do a lot of old manners, always using right hands is one of them. Right hands are believed to be the the ‘good hands’ and left hands be the ‘bad hands’ and we are demanded to always use our right ones when interacting with others.

Avoid Using ‘ente’ and ‘kemu’ when Talking with Bahasa

In Bahasa Indonesia, ‘ente’ means you for a man and ‘kemu’ is you for a woman when the speaker is angry at the interlocutors. Instead of using what’s not polite, it’s suggested to use ‘situ’, ‘Anda’, or ‘side’ to replace.

Whistling at Night

Lombok local people, especially when you get to interact with traditional tribe there such as Sasak tribe, you have to be very mindful with your own manners. When expressing your emotion when you are happy or just do it for fun, in whistling they held some kind of an ‘habit’ about it.

We don’t whistle in a private area, and we don’t whistle at night. Choose carefully to whistle only when you’re outside in the morning or afteernoon, at the house, in the fields, in the forest, and elsewhere as long as it’s not around our private areas.

Others

Touching Head, Ear, or Shoulder: Each of those body part that has been touched represent defeat of the person who has been touched. Anyone who dare to do it have a meaning to defy the other person. This be one of the most important things to avoid in Lombok.
Swearing about Woman’s Genital: Nowhere and no one would ever admitted this behavior as an acceptable one. Don’t we dare do it to anyone, anywhere
Spitting Out Carelessly: Spitting out depict our anger (people do it in a dramatic way to show how angry they are). And it’s suggested to ask for an excuse to do it rather than do it shamelessly in front of other people.
Carrying Out a Wedding: It done without Doing ‘Merarik’ Tradition without Discussing with the Families First. ‘Merarik’ is one of the traditional ceremonies in Lombok that still exist before a women are getting married to a man. In order to respect both sides of the families, we better planning out the wedding together with them.
Using too Sexy Clothes: Most people in Lombok is a Muslim who are more comfortable with people who cover their private body areas when going out of the house.
Asking a Woman to Go Out Late at Night: It prohibited in Indonesian Cultures.
Pointing Out to Something Using Left-Hand: Using left hand when eating, recognized as one of table manners in Indonesia, as well as eating habits in Indonesia.
Pretending to be Brave in a New Place: It really recommended, therefore, you can not be disturbed by bad persons.
Being a Rascal to Others and Nature: Indonesia known as country with full of etiquette. That’s why it prohibited to be rude to others.

After knowing several things to avoid in Lombok, now we know how to keep our manners better when we go there. And top of all that, we need to keep in mind to always respect anyone, anywhere so then they would do the same to us. Likewise to the nature.