Turning Back to Tradition in Sade Village. Indonesia, the largest archipelago with more culture in its smallest islands than some of the world’s bigger countries.

It’s unsurprising that in its many islands, few still uphold the traditional values and norms once lived by their ancestors’ generations before. One of them is located in the heart of Lombok, in the form of Sade Village. This village is best known for its preservation of the local traditional culture of the Sasak people. Their choice to separate themselves from globalization isn’t from the government’s lack of attention; rather, it was done on their own merit.

Separation from globalization doesn’t mean they completely reject outsiders, and they welcome visitors wholeheartedly with that well-known Indonesian friendliness and hospitality. A visit to Sade Village is truly a crash course in the Sasak culture that native to the island of Lombok, where villagers happily put their music, comedy, combat, and crafts up for the show.

From the moment tourists leave their bus, the Sasak natives who live in Sade are ready to greet them into the village by putting on a rousing show by a traditional music troupe, led in rhythm by a gendang below is a large drum. Gongs produce the melody, and together they make an energetic performance. Back in the day, the gendang beleq’s purpose was as a war instrument, with generals leading their troops with a gendang beleq in hopes the sound would rouse the fighting spirits before the battle. The troupe accompanies several acts put on by the Sade natives, the two most notable being the peresean duel and the Amaq Tempengus Dance.

Historically, the peresean duel was to draw blood, with the ancient belief that the more blood is shed during the duel, the heavier the rain would be for rice paddy season. The duel is now held every day for tourists and stopped before any blood is spilt. After the persean duel, a man in heavy makeup appears to lighten the situation by performing the Amaq Tempengus Dance. Long ago, this dance would be performed by the court’s jester for tired soldiers returning from battle. The movements could be closely described as a traditional Sasak take on Charlie Chaplin.

After the show, a local guide would lead visitors through the Sade village that contains approximately 150 houses built in the traditional Sasak architectural style: wooden pillars, woven-bamboo walls, and thatched roofs created from Alang-Alang grass. Far off from modern comfort, no electricity is available in the village, the locals relying on coconut-oil lamps to fight off the darkness in the night. One of the most interesting aspects of the Sasak lifestyle is manure –specifically buffalo –to swab the floors, believing that doing so would rid the home from mosquitos and evil spirits.

Straying far from globalization, the concept of gender roles is still thick here, with the women trained in weaving the Ikat and Songket cloths while the men are tasked with the performance work. Sasak women use traditional looms to demonstrate the weaving process for visitors.

Ikat and Songket cloth weaving is a time-intensive process, starting from dyeing the cotton with natural dyes to weaving each thread by hand. A single bolt of cloth could take months to make, with the lower quality product taking around six weeks. Visitors can buy the cloth to take home as a nice little souvenir from the trip.