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| Biak, Papuans, Myth |
Manarmakeri
is the main character in a myth (not a legend nor fairy tale) in Biak, Papua.
Myth Manarmakeri has a historical background, it is believed by the people as
the story actually occurred, is considered sacred, containing magical things,
and the character (Manarmakeri) is a god.
This
myth has been spread throughout the land of Papua long ago. There is a belief
in the storytellers’ community that in this myth as the pledge, Manarmakeri would
return one day. Till today, his arrival is still awaited in the region of the
storytellers and all over Papua.
Similar
stories are myths belonging to each tribe in Papua. These stories make Papuans
still exist to live in the midst of various problems in the hope that the
pledges of the mythical figures in each area who promised a new day (New Papua)
will happen someday.
That
old man named Manarmakeri. He came from Sopen village in Biak, Numfor, Papua.
Manarmakeri body was full with scabies. One day, he made a garden on the hill
behind the Sopen village, precisely in Yamnaibori. The garden was planted with
taro, sweet potato, squash and other crops. Manarmakeri fenced off the garden
with fences to prevent invasion of wild boar.
One
sunny morning, Manarmakeri went into the garden. Arriving at the garden
Manarmakeri was surprised to see that the crops had been eaten away by wild
boar. He checked the fence and figured out there was no intruding signs.
"How could it come inside? The fence is still unbroken,” Manarmakeri said
astonishly.
Manarmakeri
decided to keep his garden at night. It was late night and Manarmakeri was
getting ready with his makbak (nibun
spear) in a hidden place on the edge of the garden. Suddenly, a wild boar
appeared in the middle of the garden. In rage and astonishment Manarmakeri
threw his makbak toward the boar
which was busy eating plants. Instantaneously, loud noise followed by screams
of pain came up from the boar "Ae,
ae ...... yamnai .... (Ouch ... I quit ...). Then the boar disappeared
unexpectedly with makbak stuck in his
body.
On
the next day, Manarmakeri tracked the boar’s trail through the blood that
dripped along the path. Finally he came to a cave in the woods. Manarmakeri
entered the cave, and he saw his makbak
leaning against a wall on an intact and clean condition. When he turned to the
left and right, he heard a voice which cautioned him. "Who are you and
where are you going? What are you looking for here? Bring your makbak and go back off me."
"How am I going to walk?" Asked Manarmakeri. "You do what I tell
you or you'll fall off," said the voice.
Before
he made his order, the voice said again, "Do you recognize them?"
Suddenly his eyes opened and visible a clean, beautiful, a lot of people, and
light village. Apparently there was no poverty, hunger, persecution, war, and
full freedom in there.
"Your
time has not come yet to dwell in this place, because you are still in sasar (false) world. The village that
you see in this is a "koreri".
Bring the makbak and return it to your
place," the voice commanded. Then with great curiosity Manarmakeri left
that place and went back to his village. In his home he pondered about Koreri
secret. Koreri is when people experience a new life which is full of freedom
and happiness.
On
the following day, Manarmakeri heard that Mananwir’s son (village chief) found
an old Manswar (cassowaries) with a
beautiful girl in a cape. The cassowary sat in the sea and let the small fish
came on the coat, then it got back to the shore and wiggled its body so that
the fish fell on the sand. Then a girl appeared suddenly from behind a shrub
and picked up the fish and put it in inawen
(a kind of basket). Then the little girl was riding on the back of Manswar and they both disappeared.
Mananwir’
son was fascinated to see by the beautiful strange girl. He described the
incident as well as his desire to marry a beautiful girl to her father. Then
his father asked all the villagers in Sopen for help in finding and capturing
the old Manswar with the beautiful
girl who was hiding around the cape, which was not so far from the Sopen
village.
All
of strong men throughout the village were gathered at Mananwir’s home to
receive the mandate to immediately capture both the strange creatures. Mananwir
promised, "For those who can capture the strange beauty and bring her to
my house, then he has the right to marry my youngest daughter." Hearing
that promise, the boys soon formed a besieger army.
In
the spirit of the passionate, the army left the village towards the cape to
find their hiding place, the cassowary and the girl. They surrounded the whole
cape and narrowed the army circle with cheers, but they failed their
calculations. The old cassowary succeeded to get away with the beauty.
Capturing
effort failed on the first day. The troops returned home. They regrouped and
planned new tactics to surround and capture the girl. The next day, troops
surrounded the cape with the new tactic, but the effort failed as the first
day.
Then
they gathered in rumsram (the house
where the men gather) to evaluated the failure and planned on how to capture
them on the following day. Apparently, the old man (Mananarmekeri) passed in
front of the young man who sat in rumsram.
"Oi, young people, what are you talking about?"
Some
of them explained about the work they were doing. Hearing their explanation,
Manarmakeri offered himself to join the search. But the offer was just a joke
for the youth. "Even the young and strong are unsuccessful to besiege and
capture the cassowaries and girls, how could you who are full of mange and old
do this ...," said one young man. There is also an insult to Manarmakeri,
"Cis, we are the young and strong are not up to it, what can an oldman
with scabies do?, you’d better waste your time to repel flies and peeling scabs
from your stinky body."
Hearing
those painful words, Manarmakeri canceled his offer to participate in the third
day. He wanted to see what the result of the effort on that day. The third day
siege effort was zero result. Mananwir’s son kept on missing her. His face was
more gloomy and despairing to see the failures experienced by the troops.
Seeing the village chief’s son, the young men began to feel embarrassed. Then,
they ran out of tactics to capture the girl.
The
only way for the youth was to seek for help to the hobatan to find a way to
defeat the mystical power of the two creatures. But one young man proposed to
try one last time. For this occasion without further ado and bargains,
Manarmakeri took part in the siege troops on the fourth day. The whole squad
was composed of several layers and wrapped around the cape. Now there was no
more gap escape. Mananarmakeri took place on a muddy mangrove areas.
The
siege and thunderous cheers and shouts of the troops was heard. The cassowary
and the beauty were stuck. There was no other way, the only way to escape is
through muddy mangrove areas which were certainly not supervised by the youth.
Secretly cassowary was passing through the muddy area, but unluckyly. His legs
were restrained by mud and slowed down. Manarmakeri, who had hidden in the
place, could easily track down the girl from the back Manswar and squeezed her with all his strength so she did not have
time to escape. While Manswar had a
chance to get away into the woods. Since the incident in Biak, there was no
more Manswar (cassowaries) till
today.
Manarmakeri
enthusiastically took her maiden to Mananwir
Sopen. However, as a gift is not the youngest daughter as he promised before,
but a pig. He calmly accepted the gift and gave it to his brothers to burn on
rocks (barapen). Manarmakeri allowed them to take logs, taro, banana leaves and
vegetables in his garden, Yamnaibori. They made barapen in the woods nearby
Manarmakeri’s garden. After finishing cooking, the pork with vegetables were
spread to all relatives in the Sopen village. Manarmakeri’s hope to get a good
part of pork had gone. He (Manarmakeri) was given only the skull that had no
meat.
"Why
my own brothers treat me like this. They do not respect me as a human. I've
helped the village chief caught the cassowary princess. The prize was not the
youngest daughter. Given only a pig. Not only that. Pigs had been giving in
good manner to my brothers to be cooked, even firewood, taro, and the cooked
vegetables were taken from my own garden. Finally, I was only given a part that
is inappropriate." Mananarmakeri felt totally unappreciated as Sopen
villagers. Lastly, Manarmakeri took the decision to leave his beloved village.
So
the next day, early in the morning before the villagers woke up, Manarmakeri prepared
a small boat. He did not forget to bring a paddle, konarem (water bucket) and his wand. On the way the Wambrau (West) wind was blowing strongly
and causing big waves, so he had to land in the Maundori village. But he was
unable to because a lot of coral. Finally he took his wand to scratch the
corals and a canal appeared.
Through
the canal, he was able to land. After the wind subsided he went on his way down
the beach. When approaching the Sorido village, he caught a fish and brought it
to his napiremnya (cousin) home named
Padawankan in Mokmer village. After the fish was cooked then it was shared
without remembering his wife. His wife asked her part which was already
washed-up. She was angry and her anger was heard by Manarmakeri. He went to say
goodbye and carried on his wandering to Meokbundi.
After
Manarmakeri arrived in Meokbundi. He was going to do a job that he loved, it
was tapping sap (coconut sugar). He asked the residents of Sokani for coconuts,
but was not given. Manarmakeri took coconut sprout and planted it. The coconut
which had been planted had a magical growth. Soon, the coconut was grown up and
already to be tapped. Manarmakeri lived by tapping sap (saguer).
One
day he found that the sap that he had been cultivated, was stolen. He asked
everyone about it, but no one claimed. By perforce he lurked to catch the
thief. On the first night he was on guard under the tree. The next day he found
the sap was stolen as well. For the second night, he made pora-pora (kaderen)
amid the coconut trees, then he preserved it. However, the thief was still able
to steal the sap. He kept wondering how they could do it.
On
the third night, as he was so curios and angry, he climbed up and hide in the
middle of branches and coconut leaves. All night he had stayed up with
fortitude. Ahead the daybreak, the thief came down from the sky to the top of a
coconut tree. Manarmakeri tried to catch the thief and there was a fierce
struggle. After battle turned out the thief was recognized as Makmeser or Sampari (morning star). "Please let go of me because the sun
will rise," said Sampari. However Manarmakeri did not let him go. "I
will never let you go until you give me what I had desired all this time,"
said Manarmakeri.
The
star had mentioned many things in this world, but still some had not been
mentioned yet, so Manarmakeri remained silent and did not let the star go.
"Say now, what do you want,' said Sampari, "Give me "koreri
syeben",” pleaded Manarmakeri. “As the sun rises I grant your wish and now
you have your koreri. When Insoraki the commander Rumbrak’s daughter goes to
the beach and bathes with her friends, then pick some bintanggur fruit (fruit
of Mars trees) and throw it into the sea. You will see something happen to Insoraki
and it is Koreri incident," said Sampari.
After
a couple of days, he saw some girls were bathing at the beach. Manarmakeri
quickly left and hid behind a Mars tree (bintanggur). He watched the each of
the girl and found the most beautiful one that was Insoraki.
He
picked the bintanggur fruit and threw it into the sea. Fruit was washed away
and touched Insoraki’s breast. Insoraki shocked, she picked the fruit and threw
it back to the shore. The event was repeated up to three times continuously.
After the incident, Insoraki felt there was there was something wrong within
herself. Her parents shocked by knowing their daughter's pregnancy. They asked
it to residents of Meokbundi, but no one knew. Insoraki was dreamy with what
happened to herself as she never hung out with the boys. A boy was born from
her pregnancy. As the newborn boy was perceived to bring change and peace, they
named it Manarbeu (the pacifier).
The
boy’s growth was so fast and was able to talk. Whenever he cried he always
asked who his father was. One day they got together and agreed to hold a Wor (a big party). By holding the party,
Manarbeu could appoint anyone to become his father. On the appointed day the
guests had arrived and the show would begin. Insoraki and her son were sitting
in the front so that Manerbeu could determine his father.
At
the party the youth were required to walk in over Insoraki and her son. But no
one was recognized by Manerbeu. In last procession, Manarmakeri came up in the
line for the elders. Manarmakri queued on the last line. Manarmakeri who was
full of scabies and holding a wand in his hand and a sprig of leaves for fly
repellent. When he passed in front of the mother and the child, Manerbeu
immediately pointed straight to him and said, "Mom that’s Daddy!"
When
the child wanted to hug him, Insoraki held her son in disgust at Manarmakeri’s
full of mange body. Manarbeu succeeded to escape from his mother's grip and
reached his father. Because Manarmakeri humiliated and expelled by the
citizens, then they left the village. Finally, Insoraki followed them along
heading west.
On
their way to the West, Manarbeu suddenly wanted to play sand on an island with
white sand that suddenly appeared. After Manarbeu satisfied to play, they
sailed along the side of the island, leaving Yapen and Supiori Island more far
westward. During the trip, suddenly appeared a small island above sea level and
it was growing bigger and bigger. Apparently the island is greater that the
islands that had just been left and not mountainous. Manarmakeri’s karures boat
sailed down the coast of island till came down to a small island and Manarbeu
was eager to play more sand on the island. Because he continued to whine to
play, by perforce the boat was anchored and Manarbeu could play in the sand.
The
Journey was carried on. Arriving in a big island which apparently had not been
inhabited by humans. Manarmakeri took four rods stick and plugged them on the
sand and then he recited his charms. After reading the mantras, the four sticks
turned into four local tribes, the island was later known as the Numfor Island.
Manarmakeri warned them of whenever one of them died, it should not be mourn
for they would be resurrected. If they obeyed the order, they would live in
harmony, peace, and abundance.
In
fact they did not obey what was said by Manarmakeri. As of them died, they
cried for him. It really made Manarmakeri disappointed. Besides, when they lack
of the food they sailed to the island of Yapen and exchanged fish with sago
which was contrary to what was commanded by Manarmakeri. The incident made him
disappointed and felt his presence in the area was not appreciated. He reminded
his experiences in Sopen village, then Meobundi Island, in the Krawi village
and the last one in Numfor Island.
Manarmakeri
did not like living in that island. He took the decision to leave the people
and his own land to seek for a safe and quiet place. He left that place to go
to another place of tranquility and peace. He obtained the secret of eternal
life and he wanted to share it to his fellow man but they would not understand,
that is why he is gone. He went for a while back bringing a new abundance life
and eternal peace as what was promised by sampari
(the morning star). He left several messages to the people not to murder, not
to steal other people's property, and prepared a large house to save the wealth
that would come from the west.
Having
instructed the people, Manarmakeri with Insoraki sailed to leave the place. But
their son Manarbeu looked so busy playing beautiful white sand. When
Manarmakeri asked him to get into the boat Manarbeu refused him. He was
exciting to play as if the sands was his friend that he did not want to leave.
To outsmart his son, Manarmakeri threw a piece of wood that then turned into a
snake. Seeing the snake, Manarbeu scared and immediately got into the boat.
Since then the snake could breed well in Numfor Island and today the island is
known as an island filled with snakes.
For
the umpteenth time Manarmakeri should leave his people. The boat left the
Numfor Island for heading west. He crossed the straits and seas along the coast
of the islands. Manarmakeri used to stop at a group of islands which is now
known as the Raja Ampat archipelago. After some time living and spreading his
fluency, he continued his journey westward. Since his departure until now he
has not come back. According to the message left, he would return at some point
to bring peace, property and food abundance. "When I come back, sampari will be waving from the edge to
the end of the island on this land."
Biak, Papuans Myth
MR: MC2
Terima kasih atas kunjungan anda. Berharap coretan ini bermanfaat!!
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