“Tara Bandu” in English language (customary law) is called a part of Timorese culture and was created by our ancestors and the purpose of it is to avoid the prohibited or attitude that do not comply with rules and has not regard for nature or anything that all people, in certain area, do not like. This is the history, or might be correctly said ‘legend’, where our ancestors leave for the generation to generation and they left with a legacy to inheritance to women, youth, through culture, habits, and beliefs in traditional values and ultimately influence the society through these heritages.
The Ceremony of Tara Bandu, based on habit or costume, is to start forbidding or avoiding people not to do something wrong that already being banned by the community leader or Government. The ceremony of Tara bandu usually using some of animals like cow, pig, goat or chicken with betel vine and areca nut to offer to the "tutelary spirit" as a symbol and wine of course. The entire symbol putting together in a place and all people will be sitting in a circle and the leaders will be sitting nearby with the gift.
During the ceremony, the community leader will be converse with the "tutelary spirit" asking to protect this place and make some deal relatedly. If in the future, someone trying to destroy or break or damage this place, the "tutelary spirit" will punish them. After the ceremony, the community leader divide the food and the betel vine with areca nut to offer to all people who are participating in the ceremony, to eat the foods and drink the wine to get blessing from the tutelary spirit.
The ceremony of Tara Bandu is not only to protect the place, but people also believe that, when celebrate the ceremony of Tara Bandu and offer something to the nature or tutelary spirit, will give the fail to the land where we lived and blessing the place that we live in during all the seasons. People will not pass hungry because the nature will give a lot of food from the farm, but if they do not believe it, then they will not get enough food from the nature even if they already work so hard in farming and, the land will not fertile and will be dried everywhere.
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One of the activities of Tara Bandu in Madabeno village
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Tara Bandu is the culture of Timor-Leste where Timorese people should keep in their mind and heart so that we could always keep maintaining the culture. The purpose of Tara Bandu is to respect to the nature which give us the place to stay and land to farm on to get food for live and also to prevent conflicts. Tara Bandu is a way on how to prevent conflict or violence, a way to promote peace in Timor-Leste, to prevent people from spoiling nature as well as to embrace all people to establish peace and stability in this country. Using the system of Tara Bandu will make people respect the nature and also respect each other, because people will not cutting the tree and burn the hill or the forest just for one reason that want to create plantation to survive. But in fact they are destroying nature that will have very bad impact on the earth and especially the system of globalization «Global Warming» and also destroy nature that will be very detrimental to our children and grandchildren in the future. That’s way, the traditional law of Tara Bandu is a very good way to collaborate with people and work together to protect the nature and to guard the forest from irresponsible cutting of tree and burn the forest.
As the new country that just got the independent for 12 years, it is important to implement Tara Bandu, so can help the formal justice. The State Secretary of Environment is now trying to implement that system to all territory in Timor-Leste because in fact, Timorese people believe that the "tutelary spirit" is more powerful than human being or Government. People might act against the government to burn hills or cut trees but people will be very carefully to act against the "Tutelary Spirit". People will be more feared about the punishment from the nature than from the Government. For these reasons, Government of Timor-Leste has already considered to work in consonance with the community leader to implement the traditional law system of Tara Bandu.
Written by Linoy Machado & Ezo Lobo
