Holiday Ayo - Praiyawang Village is an unique village located in East Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara.

Praiyawang Village or also called Praiyawang Traditional Village still adheres to the preservation of its customs.

Located in Rindi Village, Rindi District, about 69 km east of Waingapu City, the atmosphere of past civilizations is very strong when you enter this village.

Starting from a row of Sumba houses whose architecture is very thick and very distinctive, namely where each house has a high tower. Also, the rows of old megalithic graves of the nobles that have carved symbols that contain meaningful elements, characterize the graves of the ancestors of this villager.

Praiyawang Traditional Village is the oldest royal village in Marapu land that adheres to the old culture. The villagers are also very friendly.

Most of the people of Sumba still hold tightly to their customs and culture. The most obvious characteristic of their customs is the shape of the houses of Praiyawang Village residents.

The shape of the roof of the Praiyawang traditional house is characterized by a sharp height and each house has 3 parts, namely the bottom, middle, and top the house.

All of them symbolize certain symbols, namely the lower realms (places of spirits), the middle realms (places of humans), and the upper realms (places of the gods).

In the middle of the village lined with rows of megalithic tombs of nobles with large stones and weighing up to one to 5 tons with meaningful carvings. The top of the grave has carved animal symbols hanging. Carve meaningful symbols for people's behavior or work during life. Some graves have various carvings of animals because the person must have various traits.

The graves are surrounded by eight main houses. The eight main houses represent the eight descendants of the nobles in the Praiyawang Traditional Village.

Each has a predefined function. The large house, namely the Harapuna/Uma Bokul Traditional House, is currently used as a place to store corpses which are also used for special rituals such as the traditional ritual of the death of kings, while the Uma Ndewa Traditional House is used specifically for the traditional ritual of shaving for the king's newborn children.

Likewise, the Uma Kopi Traditional House which functions as a house for drinking coffee.

The communities of Praiyawang Traditional Village still keep historical items from their ancestors in the form of gongs, drums, and traditional clothes that are hundreds of years old but are still very well preserved.

This village also maintains the preservation of dance culture, such as the Kabokang Dance which is always performed for important events. This traditional dance means that a king must always be honest and fair. This dance is also used to welcome the birth of a baby, as well as a ceremony to prepare for war. Usually, the dancers use Hinggi Kombu cloth, which is a body covering and a scarf.

Get There
1. To reach the Praiyawang Traditional Village, you must go to Kupang City, the capital of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Province.

2. From Kupang, you can continue the flight to Umbu Mehang Kunda Airport in Waingapu City.

3. From Waingapu the journey continues by car heading southeast to Rindi Village, which is 69 Km away. Access to this village is still difficult because there is no direct accommodation from Waingapu to this village.

Note :
Travelers are advised to rent a motorbike or car from Waingapu.