1) The document describes the author's hometown of Sumba Island, located in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Sumba is known for its sandalwood and traditional Sumbanese horse culture. 2) The author highlights some of Sumba's natural beauty, including its savanna landscape nicknamed the "Green Emerald" and beautiful beaches like Nihiwatu, a popular tourist resort. 3) Sumba strongly maintains its traditional Marapu beliefs and cultural practices, including ceremonies and rituals held throughout the year as well as the war-game-like Pasola tournament between villages. The author remains proud of Sumbanese culture and traditions.

1. Name : Jervince I.R. Here
Student # : 101214017
My Hometown
I wantto describe mylovelyhometown,SumbaIsland.MyparentsandI have beenliving inSumbasince
I was twoyearsold.Actually,Iwasborn inSabu Island,butmyparentsmigratedto Sumba because of theirjobs
and stayin WestSumbauntil now.I love thisplace somuch because of itsnature and friendlypeople thatmake
me feel comfortable tolive inthisplace. Ireallylike the landscape. Ithink youhave tocome to Sumba Island
and youcan see howwonderful itis.Butnow,I will describe alittlebitaboutSumbaasfar as I know. Ihope it
will help youtoknow aboutmy lovely
hometown,SumbaIsland.
Sumba IslandislocatedinEast Nusa
Tenggaraand dividedintofourdistricts;West
Sumba,Central Sumba,SouthwestSumba,and
East Sumba.It iswell-knownasthe Sandalwood
Islandandits horsesalsocalled Sandalwood
Horse. You know,some of my friendscall me
horse incollege.Itisdisturbme,butsometimes
I am proudto be a Sumbanese.Sumbaisalso
famousof its arts andhandicraftespeciallythe
textile ‘ikat’weaving.Some peoplecalled
Sumbaas ‘GreenEmerald’because of its
landscape thatismade of beautiful savanna.
(‘Green Emerald’fromSumba Island)
Sumbastill defenditstraditional cuture.
For me,Sumbais like ‘avillage inthe middle of town’,becausethere are some villagesinthe middle of its
capital cityand you can see the traditional house of Sumbaeventhoughyoulive its capital city. The traditional
house isunique because itis notbuiltwithnails,butpeoplejustuse srongrope fromrattan andfastenthe
bamboopoles. Youalsocan findtraditional gravesmade bystone.PeopleinSumbaburya corpse ina stone

2. grave.The grave islike a box butthe topis wider,andthe corpse isinsertedfromthe leftside orfromthe front
of the grave.
Sumbanese traditional beliefsiscalledMarapu. There are alsosome traditional eventsthatisstill
defended,likeWulaPodu(holy monthforMarapu) whichisheldfromfull moonof Octoberuntill full moonof
November.AfterWulaPodu,there are some ceremoniestake place,that are Topeng,whendrums(Gongs) are
beatenall nightlongandwomandance with
wearinga maskto amuse or frightenthe audience;
Magowo, a bigcrowd gatherat the deltaof a river
for Marapu ritualsandcollective traditional fishing;
Pajurra,a ritual boxingformen.It seemslike they
getup to all that was forbiddenduringthe holy
period.
Duringthisperiod, Rato(Marapu priest) of Sodan
village decideof the date forPasolaLamboya. The
well-knowntraditionaleventinSumbaisPasola.
Pasolaisthe name of a war game tournamentthatplayedbytwogroupsof Sumbanese men(onesperforming
for coastal villages, othersforinlandvillages).Theymustbe brave andskilledenoughtoflingingwoodenspears
to theirrivals.Itisalso one of touristattractionwhencome to Sumba. The othertraditional eventsthatstill exist
are Yawu(ritual ceremonytogethelpfrom the ancestors,ex.whenbuiltatraditional house,whensomeoneis
ill,oretc.),the WeddingRitual (there are
some ritual before abelovedwanttget
married), the Burial,PacuanandFestival.
Indeed,until now Sumbastillkeepits
culturesandtraditions.
SumbaIslandnotonlyhas cultures
and traditions,but italsohas beautiful
beachesandwaterfalls.Some of the
beachesare made as touristresorts,butthe
othersare gone justbylocal tourists.The
mostpopulartouristresortis Nihiwatu. Itis
locatedinSodanVillage,Wanukaka.Itis far
fromeverywhere,butthatisthe beautyof
it.The place isquietbuthas verybeautiful
beachwithtraditional touch.Itisa nice

3. touristresortand suitable forhoneymoon.Icansay
that because mostlytouristscome toNihiwatufor
theirhoneymoon. Maybe laterif Igetmarried,Iwill
choose Nihiwatuformyhoneymoon destination.
The nextbeachis nearNihiwatuBeach, still
locatedin Wanukaka;it isMarosi Beach. There is
no bighotel like inNihiwatu,justsome modestinn
nearthe beach.Marosi isone of touristobjectin
SumbaIslandbecause of itsbeautiful beachwith
large coral whichseemslike alittle islandnearthe
beach.
The other beachinWanukakais Lailiang
beach.Thisbeach is as beautiful asbeachesbefore.
There are twoprecipice soaronthe seacoastmake
Lailiangbeachnice tosee.Actuallythisbeach
seldomvisitedbymanytourists,justlocal tourist.
Maybe because of itslocation,butIthinkwhen
arrive at the beach,the distance isalreadypaid.
SomethingelsethatIlike fromSumbaIsland
isthe white sands.The beachesare naturallybeautiful
and I feel sogladto see themall.Itislike I’ve gotthe
greatestgiftfromThe Creator. Wonderful!
The other beachisWatu Maladong Beach.
There are some unique ‘coral islands’,butthe interest
one isan unique ‘coral island’whichshapedlike
traditional house of Sumba.Ithasfour pillars andlike
the traditional house,the pillarsshow the fourwind
directions.Itisreallywonderful. Ionce wentthere and
the corals made me thoughtabout some imaginative
storyabout treasure island.
Actually,there are manybeautifulbeachinSumba,butI can’t write itall because itwill make along
story.For the last one,Iwill tel youaboutthe waterfallsinSumba.

4. The firstwaterfall andthe famousone isMatayangu waterfall.ItislocatedinManurara village,Central
Sumba. The locationisfar from residentandwe have towalkabouttwo hourto arrive there.Ihave nevergone
there,butI have the pictures. Matayanguhas 100 metresheightandthe arrangementof thastonescompose
small polesthatuse forbathingplaces.People theresaidthatthere isa cave behindthe waterfall.The cave is
believedthere isacementerywhichsave historicthigs. The cave
appearwhenindry season.
The secondwaterfall ismyfavorite place.Itisa wonderful waterfallcalledLaipopu. Ionce wentthere
withmyfriendsinseniorhighschool. The waterfallshapedpyramidwithgreentreesonthe leftandrightsides.
Laipopuwaterfall isnottootall but wide,andthe debitisnot too harshlike Matayangu.You have to go there
and getthe feeling. Ilove Sumbaverymuch.