Dear all friends of Museum, thanks for your friendship with Museum Pusaka Nias and for your support in year 2011. We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
It’s the end of the year and we will be present with you in this seasons of Christmas and New Year by sending you our newsletter. Yesterday we were at a loss thinking about what we could present to you. As you know we are always busy with the repair and rehabilitation of traditional houses of Nias. But you may be bored with all this information already.
Nias artist Mr Dalizisökhi Manaö
Then I got an idea. We could not send you flowers from Nias in these solemn days, but we should send you some wonderful Nias ornaments. These ornaments can be found in the shape of carvings on the panels of the traditional houses, in the head dress of nobles and prominent people. This ornament can also be found in weavings. By considering the great variety of creatures in the nature around them, Nias people were inspired to express it in magnificent ornaments. For example there is a betel nut pouch called ‘Malifefetu’ because its colour pattern is similar to the skin of a snake called Malifefetu.
Above of all, they were inspired by the prolific abundance of plants, leaves and flowers. We can see the ornaments in this newsletter. They were designed by an artist from the village of Bawömataluo in South Nias. His name is Dalizisökhi Manaö. A few years ago he also constructed for us an exact miniature of the great chief’s house in Bawömataluo in the scale 1:10. The miniature house is more than 2.5 meters high and can be enjoyed in our exhibition.
These samples of ornaments will be the most important contribution of this newsletter to increase your joy in this festive season.
Kompas TV’s Crew
September 29, 2011: KOMPAS TV’s Crew, a television team from Jakarta visited our museum. KOMPAS is the largest daily newspaper in Indonesia. They are making a film on cultural heritage and local wisdom.
Visit from the Religious High Court –Medan
December 7, 2011: The Head of the Religious High Court in Medan Drs. H. Sofyan S. SH., visited Nias Heritage Museum.
16th Anniversary of Museum Pusaka Nias
November 10, 2011 was the 16th anniversary of the Museum Pusaka Nias. The museum was open for free to public. During this day some 1409 people visited the museum.
November 11, 2011: Back from Dresden- Germany.
A junior curator at the museum, Faozisökhi La'ia returned safely from his internship at the Ethnological Museum in Dresden-Germany. In accordance with the duration of his visa, the internship was limited to 90 days. Petra Martin, the curator of the museum in Dresden, speaks Indonesian very well, which was very helpful for Faozisökhi. We thank everyone who have contributed to the success of this internship, especially the Team Leader of ILO in Nias Mr. Walter Illi, the Caritas Association and the Evangelical Diakonia of the district of Ludwigsburg.
Support
November 2011: The Government of Kabupaten Nias, one of the five districts on the island of Nias assisted the museum this year with funding, which was the equivalent of 8130 Euros to be used for construction and repair work at the museum.
With the financial help from Tirto Utomo Foundation in Jakarta, we were able to repair some culturally very valuable old house in the district of Gomo. The house owners name is Ama Gatiba.
Finally once again, greetings to all the friends of the Nias Heritage Museum. We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
On behalf of all Staff members
Johannes M. Hämmerle OFM Cap.