Nuaulu people

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Nuaulu people
Naulu, Nunuhai
Naulu people (5841685302).jpg
A Naulu man.
Total population
2,700 [1] [2]
Regions with significant populations
Indonesia (Seram)
Languages
Nuaulu, Ambonese Malay, and Indonesian
Religion
Naurus Folk religion (predominantly), Islam, Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Alfur people (Manusela people)

The Nuaulu, also known as the Naulu or Nunuhai, [3] are an ethnic group located in the island of Seram, Maluku, Indonesia. They belong to the Alifuru group of people who are the native inhabitants of the Seram interior.

Contents

Description

The name "Nuaulu" means 'head[waters] of the Nua River', which is the ancestral homeland of the Nuaulu people. In the late 19th century or early 20th century, the Nuaulu people were moved down to the coast by the Dutch for purposes of pacification. [4]

The Nuaulu are divided into two groups, namely the northern and the southern groups. Numbering at a total of 2,500 people, they live in the Amahai district of Central Seram. The northern group inhabit two villages on the north coast of central Seram Island, while the southern group inhabits five villages on the south coast and inland of Amahai district. [5] These two languages are not mutually intelligible.

Religion

The majority of the Nuaulu people still adhere to their traditional religion which is based on a belief that the ancestors control everyday life and if the traditions they handed down are not followed correctly the living will be punished with sickness, death, and lack of prosperity. Nuaulu religion also states that there is an original creator called Upu Kuanahatana, and that there is powerful magic which people can use for good, or bad, purposes. Nuaulu people build Baileo for spiritual purposes. [3]

Culture

The Nuaulu people are often mistakenly referred to as the Manusela people, who like the Nuaulu people wear a traditional red cloth on their heads, [6] speak a similar language and practice the same traditional beliefs, the Naurus. [7]

The Nuaulu retained a custom of headhunting until the 1940s. [8] However, the last incident occurred in 2005, seven Nuaulu people were involved in the murder of two residents of Rutah village near the Rutah River, their heads were cut off and their bodies were chopped up, the perpetrators were sentenced to death by the court. [9]

Livelihood

Sago is the staple food of the Nuaulu. Nuaulu are subsistence farmers who use shifting cultivation techniques; they also grow cash crops such as coconuts, cloves, and nutmeg. [4]

The Nuaulu people are honored in the scientific name of a species of gecko, Cyrtodactylus nuaulu , which is native to Seram Island. [10]

References

  1. ↑ "North Nuaulu in Indonesia". Joshua Project . Retrieved 2015-08-09.
  2. ↑ "South Nuaulu in Indonesia". Joshua Project . Retrieved 2015-08-09.
  3. 1 2 Hidayah, Zulyani (2015). Ensiklopedi Suku Bangsa di Indonesia. Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia. ISBN   978-979-461-929-2.
  4. 1 2 Bolton, Rosemary A. (1990). A Preliminary Description of Nuaulu Phonology and Grammar (Masters thesis). The University of Texas at Arlington.
  5. ↑ Bonardo Maulana Wahono (8 April 2018). "Bertahan mengagungkan Anahatana dan Upu Ama". Beritagar. Retrieved 2015-08-09.
  6. ↑ Indonesia. Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan (1989). Workpapers In Indonesian Languages and Culture, Volume 6. Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  7. ↑ Shiv Shanker Tiwary & Rajeev Kumar (2009). Encyclopaedia of Southeast Asia and Its Tribes, Volume 1. Anmol Publications. p. 92. ISBN   978-81-261-3837-1.
  8. ↑ Lonely Planet Indonesia, 8th edition p.762
  9. ↑ "Pemutilasi 2 Warga untuk Prosesi Adat Didakwa Hukuman Mati". news.detik.com (in Indonesian). Detik. 16 November 2005. Retrieved 15 December 2025.
  10. ↑ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN   978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Nuaulu", p. 191).

Further reading

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