Alor the Abui

Alor is located about 70 km from the island of Timor. Alor is the name of an archipelago which is the easternmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. We see the coast of East Timor from the Bay of Kolana in the east of the island of Alor. The archipelago consists of 15/16 islands, the largest of which are in addition to Alor, Pantar, Ternate, Treweng, Kepa ...

The Abui are the mountain peoples of the island of Alor. They belong to one of 13 ethnic groups in this small island of 170,000 inhabitants. Thirteen tribes forgotten, with black skin and frizzy hair. Their physical, language, betray their membership of the Melanesian world. Close cousins ​​of the Papuans, Abui, Seboda, Kramang, Kui, Kafèl, Wululi ... are culturally influenced by Austronesian peoples, ancestors of Asian Indonesians, Polynesians and Malaysians today.

Symbol of that distant miscegenation, the bronze drums here called moko, made ​​centuries ago by Austronesian navigators slowly colonizing the Melanesian world, are still there. They are also the center of complex rituals. The Abui tafaa call these drums. The mokos are scarce. Many were destroyed, sold to antique dealers, where even burned by Alorais converted to Christianity.

Abui Headdress (Alor)
Period: XXth Century
Material: Metal
Function: Clothing, Hunting