Editing Flores (section)

==Culture==
[[File:LabuhanBajoChurch.JPG|thumb|Saint Angela Church in Labuan Bajo]]

=== Languages ===
Many languages are spoken on the island of Flores, all of them belonging to the [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]] family. In the west [[Manggarai language|Manggarai]] is spoken; [[Riung language|Riung]], often classified as a dialect of Manggarai, is spoken in the north-central part of the island. In the centre of the island in the regencies of [[Ngada]], [[Nagekeo]], and [[Ende Regency|Ende]], there is what is variously called the [[Central Flores languages|Central Flores dialect chain or linkage]]. Within this area, there are slight [[linguistics|linguistic]] differences in almost every village. At least six separate languages are identifiable: from west to east, [[Ngadha]], [[Nage]], [[Keo language|Keo]], [[Ende language (Indonesia)|Ende]], [[Lio language|Lio]], and [[Palu'e language|Palu'e]] (which is spoken on the island with the same name off the north coast of Flores). Locals would probably also add [[So'a]] and [[Bajawa]] to this list, which anthropologists have labeled dialects of Ngadha. To the east, [[Sikka language|Sikka]] and [[Lamaholot language|Lamaholot]] can be found.

Djawanai (1983) precises that Ngadha somewhat deviates from Austronesian norms, in that words do not have clear [[cognate]]s and the grammatical processes are different;<ref>{{cite book|last1=Djawanai|first1=Stephanus|year=1983|title=Ngadha text tradition: the collective mind of the Ngadha people, Flores|type=''Materials in languages of Indonesia'', No.20|series=''Pacific Linguistics'', Series D (Special communications), No. 55|publisher=Australian National University|pages=2|url=https://dspace-prod.anu.edu.au/server/api/core/bitstreams/25b86add-73dc-476a-89dd-783a6d426499/content}}</ref> for example, the Austronesian family of languages makes an abundant use of prefixes or suffixes (which form new words by adding extensions either before or after root-words, such as [per-]form or child[-hood]), whereas the Ngadha and Keo languages use no prefixes or suffixes.<ref>{{cite web|author=Peter ten Hoopen|title=Ikat from Ngadha, Indonesia|website=ikat.us|publisher=Online Museum of Indonesian ikat textiles, curator: Dr Peter Ten Hoopen |url=https://ikat.us/ikat_flores%20group_ngadha.php|access-date=2024-06-08}}</ref>

=== Social organisation ===

The traditional social structure is based on complex extended family ties, where patrilinear and matrilinear lineages are at play and determine a strict social hierarchy within villages.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Forth|first1=Gregory|date=2009b|title=Human beings and other people: Classification of human groups and categories among the Nage of Flores (eastern Indonesia)|journal=Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde|volume=165|issue=4|pages=493–514|doi=10.1163/22134379-90003630|jstor=43817775|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43817775|access-date=2024-06-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Sudarmadi|first1=Tular|year=2014|title=Between colonial legacies and grassroots movements: exploring cultural heritage practice in the Ngadha and Manggarai Region of Flores|type=doctorate thesis in History, Art and Culture|location=University of Amsterdam|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/19884832.pdf}}</ref> It is similar to that in Lembata, [[East Nusa Tenggara]];{{sfn|Barnes|1996|loc=see Appendix I}} and is reflected in the spiderweb disposition of the rice fields around Cancar (16&nbsp;km west of Ruteng): started as a pie centered on the point where buffaloes are sacrificed, the allotments originally shaped as pie slices were later divided transversally by the heirs.<ref>{{cite web|title=Spider Web Rice Fields, Ruteng|website=atlasobscura.com|url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/spider-web-rice-fields|access-date=2024-06-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Cancar and rice fields, satellite view|website=google.com/maps|url=https://www.google.com/maps/dir//C96H%2BJ66+Cancar,+Wae+Belang,+Kec.+Ruteng,+Kabupaten+Manggarai,+Nusa+Tenggara+Tim.,+Indon%C3%A9sie/@-8.5904209,120.3699112,3947m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m8!4m7!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x2db37737ca7a8261:0x4a0af5e723f63f56!2m2!1d120.3780143!2d-8.5884555?entry=ttu}}</ref>

=== Religion ===
[[File:Jesus Statue Maumere.jpg|thumb|Jesus statue in [[Maumere]]]]
{{Pie chart
|thumb = right
|caption = Religion in Flores (2023)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://e-database.kemendagri.go.id/dataset/1203/tabel-data?page=23|title=Religion in Indonesia}}</ref>
|label1 = [[Roman Catholic]]
|value1 = 83.56
|color1 = Purple
|label2 = [[Protestantism]]
|value2 = 1.17
|color2 = Blue
|label3 = [[Islam]]
|value3 = 15.21
|color3 = DarkGreen
|label4 = [[Hinduism]]
|value4 = 0.05
|color4 = DarkOrange
|label5 = [[Buddhism]]
|value5 = 0.01
|color5 = Yellow
|label6 = Others
|value6 = 0.00
|color6 = Red
}}

The native peoples of Flores are mostly [[Roman Catholic]] Christians, whereas most other Indonesians are [[Islam|Muslim]]. As a consequence, Flores may be regarded as surrounded by a [[geography of religion|religious border]]. The prominence of Catholicism on the island resulted from its [[the Portuguese in Indonesia|colonisation by Portugal]] in the east and early 20th-century support by the Dutch in the west.<ref>{{harvp|Steenbrink|2013}}</ref> In other parts of Indonesia with significant Christian populations, such as the [[Maluku Islands]] and [[Sulawesi]], the geographical divide is less rigid and Muslims and Christians sometimes live side by side. Flores thereby also has less [[Religion in Indonesia#Interfaith relations|religious violence]] than that which has sporadically occurred in other parts of Indonesia. There are several churches on the island. On 26 May 2019, Flores' St. Paul Catholic University of Indonesia was formally inaugurated by Indonesian Education Minister [[Mohamad Nasir]], becoming the first Catholic university in Flores.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Dagur|first=Ryan|date=28 May 2019|title=Indonesia inaugurates first Catholic university in Flores|work=La Croix International|url=https://international.la-croix.com/news/indonesia-inaugurates-first-catholic-university-in-flores/10201}}</ref> Aside from Catholicism, Islam also has a presence on the island, especially in some coastal communities.

=== Totemism ===

[[Totem|Totemism]] is present, although anthropologists like [[Claude Lévi-Strauss|Lévi-Strauss]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lévi-Strauss|first1=Claude|author-link1=Claude Lévi-Strauss|year=1962|title=Le totémisme aujourd'hui|location=Paris|publisher=Presses Universitaires de France}} Cited in {{harvnb|Forth|2009a|p=263}}</ref> and historians like Robert Jones<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Robert Alun|year=2005|title=The secret of the totem: Religion and society from McLennan to Freud|location=New York|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=0-231-13438-X}} Cited in {{harvnb|Forth|2009a|p=263}}</ref> have eschewed the term "totemism" as an imprecise and artificial category of cultural phenomena. {{harvp|Forth|2009a}}, focusing on the [[Nage people]] of central Flores, argues that totemism manifests itself as a tendency to link people and plants, not as a totalizing form of analogical classification as described by Lévi-Strauss.<ref name="forth264">{{cite journal|last1=Forth|first1=Gregory|date=2009a|title=Tree Totems and the Tamarind People: Implications of Clan Plant Taboos in Central Flores|journal=Oceania|volume=79|issue=3|pages=263–279 (see p. 264)|doi=10.1002/j.1834-4461.2009.tb00064.x|url=https://www.academia.edu/54351207|access-date=2024-06-08}}</ref> He notes that many clans (''woe'') in Flores are named after various trees and that these trees have become taboo (''pie''), such that they must not be burnt or used as fuel (''pie 'uge''). The Nage people bear the name of the tamarind tree,{{sfn|Forth|2009a|p=263}} ''[[Tamarindus indica]]'', and thus avoid burning its wood.<ref name="forth264"/>

A few clans are not named after plants but also taboo particular trees.{{sfn|Forth|2009a|p=264}} For example, the Wa or Ana Wa people, whose name means "wind" or "wind people, children",{{efn|"''Ana wa''" is also the word for "animal", but this is not related to the clan's name.{{sfn|Forth|2009a|p=267}} }} claim the nage or tamarind tree as taboo;{{sfn|Forth|2009a|p=267}} the Dhuge people bear the name of a former village and taboo the zita tree (''[[Alstonia scholaris]]''); so do the Saga 'Enge people, whose name origin is not known.{{sfn|Forth|2009a|p=268}}{{efn|Some tribe names are related to particular traditions and beliefs, for example the Sodha or Naka Sodha people: ''sodha'' is "a kind of song, singing", and ''naka'' is "to steal"; this refers to a ritual task whereby a designated man should "steal" a portion of cooked meat and rice before it is served at feasts, an act thought to ensure that the supply will be sufficient.{{sfn|Forth|2009a|p=268}} }}

The Nage people have plant totems but no animal totems—and, therefore, no taboo on killing and eating any animal.{{sfn|Forth|2009a|p=264}} In contrast, their neighbours to the west, the Ngadha people, have 14 animal taboos and 16 plant taboos.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Arndt|first1=Paul|year=1954|title=Gesellschaftliche Verhältnisse der Ngadha|series=''Studia Instituti Anthropos'' 8|location=Wien-Mödling|publisher=Missionsdruckerei St. Gabriel}} Cited in {{harvnb|Forth|2009a|p=265}}. <br>
This is not the archaeologist and art dealer [[Paul Arndt]] (1865–1937). The author here was a missionary-ethnologist who lived among the Ngadha people from 1923 until his death in 1962. See {{cite web|author=Peter ten Hoopen|title=Ikat from Ngadha, Indonesia|website=ikat.us|publisher=Online Museum of Indonesian ikat textiles, curator: Dr Peter Ten Hoopen |url=https://ikat.us/ikat_flores%20group_ngadha.php|access-date=2024-06-08}}</ref>

=== Textiles ===
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Vrouwen van de Ngadastam met spinstaafjes weeftoestel en spinnewiel TMnr 10006048.jpg|thumb|Ngada women with spinning rods, loom and spinning wheel.]]

Weaving on Flores makes use of cotton grown in the low-lying zones of the island.<ref name="hoopn_ikat">{{cite web|author=Peter ten Hoopen|title=Ikat from Ngadha, Indonesia|website=ikat.us|publisher=Online Museum of Indonesian ikat textiles, curator: Dr Peter Ten Hoopen |url=https://ikat.us/ikat_flores%20group_ngadha.php|access-date=2024-06-08|ref={{SfnRef|Hoopen|, ''ikat.us''}}}}</ref>
Each ethnic group on Flores has its own tradition of dyeing, weaving and trading in textiles.{{sfn|Hamilton|1994}}

==== Dyes ====

The dyes used are essentially [[Indigo dye|indigo]], [[turmeric]]{{efn|
[[Turmeric]]: ''wuné'' in [[Ngadha language]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kikusawa|first1=Ritsuko|last2=Reid|first2=Lawrence A.|date=January 2007|chapter=25. Proto who utilized turmeric, and how?|editor-last1=Siegel|editor-first1=Jeff|editor-last2=Lynch|editor-first2=John|editor-last3=Eades|editor-first3=Diana|title=Language Description, History and Development: Linguistic indulgence in memory of Terry Crowley|series=Creole Language Library 30|pages=341–354 (see p. 343)|url=http://www2.hawaii.edu/~reid/Combined%20Files/A67.%202007.%20Kikusawa%20and%20Reid--Turmeric..pdf}}</ref>
}} and morinda.{{sfn|Hamilton|1994}} [[Lamaholot people]] use maize starch to size the yarn before dying.{{sfn|Barnes|1989|p=15}}

; Blue (indigo)

[[indigo]] grows in the temperate zones at middle elevations;<ref name="hoopn_ikat"/>
It is the most commonly used plant base for blues and black dyes. Bar a few exceptions, it is always used in ikat.{{sfn|Barnes|1989|p=15}}

; Red (morinda and others)

''[[Morinda citrifolia]]'' (''mengkudu'',<ref name="texttrip">{{cite web|title=Flores ikat – its all about the villages|website=asiatextilejourney.wordpress.com|date=December 2015|url=https://asiatextilejourney.wordpress.com/tag/ende/|access-date=2024-06-20}}</ref> ''keloré'' in [[Lamalera language|Lamalera]]{{sfn|Barnes|1989|p=28}}), extensively used in the archipelago as a source of red dye, does not grow well on Flores and, according to Hoopen, is scarcely used here.<ref name="hoopn_ikat"/> But its use is reported in N'Dona (just east of Ende), where it is mixed with various [[mordant]]s including [[Aleurites moluccanus|candlenut]] (''kemiri'', very oily nut).<ref name="texttrip"/> Barnes also reports its use in the villages of Ili Mandiri, East Flores<ref name="barnes31">{{cite book|last1=Barnes|first1=Ruth|year=1989|title=Ikat Textiles of Lamalera: A Study of an Eastern Indonesian Weaving Tradition|type=Studies in South Asian culture, vol. XIV|publisher=E.J. Brill|pages=31|isbn=90-04-08753-2|issn=0169-9865|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zt77EAAAQBAJ&dq=what+is+%22kajo+kuma%22&pg=PA31}}</ref> – and describes at length the arduous process for its preparation and application.{{sfn|Barnes|1989|p=28}} Close by, weavers from the village of Larantuka may use the tree called ''gemoli'' for red dye.<ref name="barnes31"/>

Powdered leaves of a plant (tree?) called "lobah" are used in N'Dona (east of Ende) to obtain bright reds.<ref name="texttrip"/>

; Yellow (turmeric, mango and others)

Yellow translates as ''kuma''.<ref name="barnes31"/>
In the [[Sikka Regency|Sikka area]], [[turmeric]] was used for producing yellow monochrome warp stripes, as well as orange or green stripes by overdyeing with either morinda or indigo; sometimes mango bark was used for that purpose.<ref name="yellow">{{cite web|title=Yellow dyes|website=asiantextilestudies.com|url=http://www.asiantextilestudies.com/yellow.html|access-date=2024-06-08}}</ref> <br>
At Doka<ref name="dokamap">{{cite web|title=Doka (Bola district), map|website=google.com/maps|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sanggar+Doka+Tawa+Tana+-+Desa+Wisata+Umauta/@-8.7127642,122.307397,16.04z/data=!4m15!1m8!3m7!1s0x2dad2190b9d59f9f:0xa85b3c83f6076567!2sBola,+Kabupaten+de+Sikka,+Nusa+Tenggara+oriental,+Indon%C3%A9sie!3b1!8m2!3d-8.744265!4d122.2997081!16s%2Fg%2F121ln153!3m5!1s0x2dad210d99bd461d:0xf4ab010632bf67c5!8m2!3d-8.7143687!4d122.3092659!16s%2Fg%2F11fwdv8xln?entry=ttu}}</ref> 
in the 'Iwang Geté or Krowé{{efn|name="krowe"|
Iwangeté or Iwang Geté is a small region in [[Sikka Regency|Sikka regency]], that encompasses the villages of 
Watublapi (Hewokloang district),<ref>{{cite web|title=Watublapi (Hewokloang district), map, with Héwokloang to the west|website=google.com/maps|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sanggar+Budaya+Tenun+Bliran+Sina+-+Watublapi/@-8.7007277,122.3106116,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x2dad1f9b22619e13:0xc81deaff7fbe7d22!8m2!3d-8.700733!4d122.3131865!16s%2Fg%2F11f0kwrr9t?entry=ttu}}</ref> 
Héwokloang, 
Kloangpopot (Doreng district),<ref>{{cite web|title=Klo'angpopot, Doreng district, Sikka regency|website=m.nomor.net|url=https://m.nomor.net/_kodepos.php?_i=desa-kodepos&sby=010000&BK_HP=Laptop&_en=ENGLISH&daerah=Desa-Doreng-Kab.-Sikka&jobs=Kloangpopot|access-date=2024-06-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Kloangpopot (Doreng district), map|website=google.com/maps|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kloangpopot/@-8.712828,122.352609,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x2dad21c34d6ff0f3:0x59502f201439b4e2!8m2!3d-8.7128333!4d122.3551839!16s%2Fg%2F11p_0cvsjg?entry=ttu}}</ref> 
Hale (Mapitara district),
Hebingare,<ref name="krowe">{{cite web|title=Ikat from Krowe, Indonesia|website=ikat.us|publisher=Pusaka Collection, Online Museum of Indonesian ikat textiles|url=https://ikat.us/ikat_flores%20group_krowe.php|access-date=2024-06-09}}</ref> and
Doka (Bola district<ref name="dokamap"/>).<ref name="yellow"/>
Krowe is another name for this area, although neither names are quite accurate.<ref name="krowe"/>
}} region, a more durable deep mustard yellow is produced from turmeric, [[Mangifera indica|mango]] bark, ''[[Morinda citrifolia]]'' (''mengkudu'') tree [[Bark (botany)|bark]] (not root), [[jackfruit]] bark and powdered [[Lime (material)|lime]] (''kapur sireh''). Dyers of that region also mix turmeric with mango bark.{{efn|Textiles from [[Palu'e|Palu’é island]] have narrow yellow-orange warp stripes dyed with a mixture of [[turmeric]], [[Betel|betel pepper]], [[areca nut]] and [[Lime (material)|lime]].<ref name="yellow"/>}}<ref name="yellow"/> Another yellow was obtained from a combination of mango bark and morinda, without the addition of oil or loba.{{efn|The combination of mango bark and morinda, without oil or loba, was used in Flores and in Solor.<ref name="yellow"/>}}<ref name="yellow"/> <br>
At Ile Mandiri (East Flores regency) and Loba Tobi{{efn|name=lewotobi|
Loba Tobi or Lewotobi are common names for the district of Ilé Bura; ''tobi'' is the local Lamaholot name for the tamarind tree.<ref name="lewo">{{cite web|title=Lewotobi textiles|website=asiantextilestudies.com|url=http://www.asiantextilestudies.com/lewotobi.html|access-date=2024-06-09}}</ref>
}} 
a beautiful yellow dye was obtained by boiling the wood chips of the 'yellowwood' tree, known locally as ''kajo kuma''.<ref name="yellow"/> <br>
[[Manggarai people|Manggarai]] used to export ''Arcangelisia flava'' (''kayu kuning''<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Setyowati|first1=Rini|last2=Sudarsono|last3=Setyowati|first3=E. P|date=2014|title=The effect of water-soluble stem extract "Kayu Kuning" (''Arcangelisia flava'' L. Merr) on the growth inhibition of ''Candida albicans'' ATCC 10231 and ''Trichophyton mentagrophytes'' in vitro|journal=Biology, Medicine, & Natural Product Chemistry|volume=3|issue=1|pages=15–19|doi=10.14421/biomedich.2014.31.15-19|issn=2089-6514|url=https://www.sciencebiology.org/index.php/BIOMEDICH/article/download/13/2|access-date=2024-06-09}}</ref>) to Java for the yellows in batik.<ref name="yellow"/>
Another export (from Flores and [[Adonara]]) in the same domain was a hardwood tree called ''kajo kuma'', literally 'yellow wood', which gives a yellow dye.<ref name="yellow"/> In the 1980s it was still brought to Lembata for that purpose.{{efn|The dye from ''kajo kuma'' was obtained by soaking fine wood chips in cold water without the addition of lime. Several immersions were required to produce the right shade. It is not clear whether this ''kajo kuma'' was ''laban'' or some other dyewood.<ref name="yellow"/>}}<ref name="barnes31"/> <br>
''[[Vitex pinnata|laban]]'' as a dye is hardly used any longer in the Lesser Sunda Islands.<ref name="yellow"/>

; Green colour

In some regions of Flores such as East Flores and Ende, green is hardly found in any textile.<ref name="green"/> Green warp stripes are most likely to be found in textiles produced in the area of Sikka Natar, and from [[Lamalera language|Lamalera]] on [[Lembata|Lembata island]].<ref name="green"/> <br>
It is produced almost exclusively by applying alternatively blue and yellow dyes, but in [[Lamalera language|Lamalera]] region it is obtained by crushing leaves and using the green juice thus produced{{sfn|Barnes|1989|p=15}} – notably from ''[[Annona squamosa]]'' (''dolima'').<ref>{{cite book|last1=Barnes|first1=Robert Harrison|year=1996|title=Sea Hunters of Indonesia: Fishers and Weavers of Lamalera|location=Oxford|publisher=Clarendon Press|pages=368|isbn=978-0-19-828070-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4TR6q_hPM18C&dq=tree+%22gemoli%22+-bolgheri+-guado&pg=PA368}}</ref> <br>
At Nita Kloang in the region of Krowé{{efn|name="krowe"}} (Sikka regency) a green dye is made from the edible leaves of the Indian Coral tree (''dadap''), which may include such species as ''Erythrina variegata'', ''[[Erythrina subumbrans|E. subumbrans]]'', ''E. indica'' and ''[[Erythrina fusca|E. fuspa]]''). The tree is used as a shade plant for cocoa and coffee plants. For the dye, the leaves are crushed with turmeric root and powdered [[Lime (material)|lime]].<ref name="green"/>

; Synthetic dyes

The earliest [[Aniline#Uses|aniline dyes]] may have reached Indonesia in the 1880s, and brought to Flores by the Dutch steamers that serviced [[Ende (town)|Ende]] and [[Larantuka]].<ref name="green"/> Up to the 1920s, they were likely only blue, red and magenta rather than green.{{efn|In 1923, almost two-thirds of the 672 tons of aniline dyes imported into the Netherlands East Indies consisted of synthetic indigo. The remaining synthetic dyes would have been mostly purple, red, orange and yellow. Even today the number of homogeneous green dyes and pigments remains significantly less than that of any other major colour.<ref name="green"/>}}<ref name="green"/> <br>
It is impossible to say how quickly synthetic greens were incorporated into Lesser Sunda Island weavings. Any green that was included in early weavings from around the turn of the century is likely to have faded to blue or brown by now (Brackman 2009, 61). Certainly by the 1950s and 1960s more modern lightfast synthetic greens were being used in the stripes in Sikkanese sarongs. They continue to be used in this way today without undermining the regions traditional textile culture.<ref name="green"/>
As of 2016, most areas of Flores still retain a degree of their former textile culture{{efn|Other areas that have retained a degree of their former textile culture are [[Lembata]], [[Savu]] and [[East Sumba Regency|East Sumba]].<ref name="green"/>}} and still use synthetic green only sparingly, compared to other places that are losing or have lost their textile culture, such as Manggarai and Ngada.{{efn|Other regions that are in the process of losing or have already lost their textile culture are [[Bali]], [[Sumbawa]], [[Solor]], [[Adonara]], [[Alor Island|Alor]], [[Rote Island|Roti]] and [[West Sumba Regency|West Sumba]].<ref name="green"/>}}<ref name="green"/> In Sikka, it seems that chemical green has been frequently used since at least the 1960s and probably earlier.<ref name="green">{{cite web|title=Green dyes|website=asiantextilestudies.com|date=2016|url=http://www.asiantextilestudies.com/green.html#i|access-date=2024-06-08}}</ref>

==== Textile particularities of some areas ====

; Ilé Bura region

In the past, the whole Ilé Bura{{efn|name=lewotobi}} region was a major centre of weaving, which was an important contribution to family income. As of 2016, weaving is confined to just three villages – Lewo Tobi,{{efn|name=lewotobi}} Lewouran and Riang Baring, the latter being the most active.<ref name="lewo"/>

; Iwang Geté region

People of the Iwan geté{{efn|name="krowe"}} region produce a very distinctive ikat cloth: the widest bands (called ''ina geté'') bear such motifs as lizard (''teké''), a circular motif seen on some antique plates (''pigan uben''), spinning wheel (''jata selér'') and pineapple flower (''petan puhun'').<ref name="krowe"/>

; Ngadha region

Traditionally in the Ngadha region, everyday clothing is a plain, stark indigo sarong. But there is also a type of ikat, often called Bajawa ikat after its capital, that is decorated with primitive-type designs and using only indigo dye. One characteristic of this ikat is the very intense blue, seen nowhere else in the archipelago; this comes from the high concentration of indigo due to long and repeated steepings of the cloth into the tincture. It also means that the motifs, made by ties on the warp, should have come out white but are more often of a very pale blue because the pigment bath has had time to seep into the yarn beyond the resist of the ties.<ref name="hoopn_ikat"/> <br>
The other characteristic of Ngadha ikat is in the motifs. Horses (''jara'') are a frequent one, as they are a sign of high social rank; this ties up with the fact that decorated cloths were traditionally worn only by respected clan members.{{efn|In the Ngadha region, tradition required that younger people would wear only plain or nearly plain cloths. But advancing in age was not sufficient to be allowed more prestigious, adorned cloths; one also had to go through various levels of initiation and arrange for great feasts, notably those where buffalo would be slaughtered. Only members of the upper strata of society could afford those, and ikat adorned with narrow bands of horses was a marker of that aristocratic status.<ref>{{harvp|Hamilton|1994}}, cited in {{harvnb|Hoopen|, ''ikat.us''}}.</ref> These days, this is no longer a traditional law but there remain in some communities the sense that only people of high social standing should wear these prestigious garments, even if there is a reluctance to talk about such class distinctions.<ref name="hoopn_ikat"/>
}} The particularity here is that they are executed as stick figures, by which they resemble some prehistoric cave drawings. This gives them a strikingly 'primitive' appearance and makes them highly sought-after items.{{efn|The Ngadha, and the Manggarai to the west, have long had a legend about 'little people' who lived among them till as late as the 1500s. Add to this their primitive, cave-drawing-like images on Ngadha ikats ; and that the [[Ngadha language|Ngadha]] and Keo languages are curiously 'nude' versions of [[Malay language|Malay]], as if encountering difficulties in assimilating its full complexity. For example, the Austronesian family of languages makes an abundant use of prefixes or suffixes (which form new words by adding extensions either before or after root-words, such as [per-]form or child[-hood]), whereas the Ngadha language uses no prefixes or suffixes. This has led linguist [[John McWhorter]] to speculate that maybe these two rudimentary languages came into being through contact with the 'little people' of Flores, ''[[Homo floresiensis]]''.<ref name="hoopn_ikat"/><ref>{{cite web|last1=McWhorter|first1=John Hamilton|author-link1=John McWhorter|title=Flores Man vs. Sulawesi. A linguistic mystery in the Lesser Sunda Islands|format=audio|date=April 30, 2019|website=slate.com|series=Lexicon Valley|url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/04/john-mcwhorter-on-the-languages-of-flores-in-indonesia.html|access-date=2024-06-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=McWhorter|first1=John Hamilton|author-link1=John McWhorter|date=October 2019|title=The radically isolating languages of Flores: A challenge to diachronic theory|journal=Journal of Historical Linguistics|volume=9|issue=2|pages=177–207|doi=10.1075/jhl.16021.mcw|url=https://www.academia.edu/26566146|access-date=2024-06-10}}</ref>}}<ref name="hoopn_ikat"/> <br>
Most of the ikat on Flores is produced in villages located in the temperate, middle elevation zones – where indigo can be cultivated. The best known are Jerebuu<ref>
{{cite web|title=Jerebuu village and district, map|website=google.fr/maps|type=scroll back to see the limits of Jerebuu district|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Jerebuu,+Kabupaten+de+Ngada,+Nusa+Tenggara+oriental,+Indon%C3%A9sie/@-8.8977226,120.9964015,15z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x2db2dc0a59e6c4b5:0x39c158f74ac29cdb!8m2!3d-8.8964289!4d120.9972433!16s%2Fg%2F1213jbmw?entry=ttu}}
</ref> and Langa, in a valley on the east side of the [[Inierie]] volcano, and Lopijo and Toni, tucked behind the rim of mountains that surrounds [[Bajawa]], north of the same volcano. The latter are still very isolated and conservative, still using indigenous cotton and indigo only. The cloths from these localities are admired throughout the Ngadha region – and nowadays in New York and Singapore as well.<ref name="hoopn_ikat"/>