PALU,- ONE OF THE Original cultural heritage of Palu Valley people, Tana Kaili Central Sulawesi which has long been abandoned is Nobalia. That is the procession implementation using other world media, or associated with the supernatural activities.
The goal is to heal someone from illness and other certain things through the help of astral beings. Nobalia is again presented at the Festival of Palu Enchantment Nomoni II and Indonesia Culture Week III at Kaili Village Saturday (23/09/2017) at 18.00 WITA. Balia participants from Baiya Village, North Palu Sub-district represent their area in enlivening the celebration. Monitoring at the location, it seems Soki-Soki area is full of crowds, where the implementation of Balia held.
A gripping atmosphere and a bit of mystical air are visible from the inside and courtyard of Kaili’s small house, where sounds of sentences pronounced in Rai dialect and dance performed by women accompanied by drum beat and flute from male participants add to the festive atmosphere of the night’s performances.
After performing traditional dances with armed weapons, next to the main event which is to perform a ritual slaughter of a goat which then the meat will be eaten by all participants of Topo Balia without any remains. Indigenous parents seem to perform custom ceremonial procession wearing clothes and Siga or typical red headband of Tana Kaili reciting the ritual language that aims for the salvation for those present at the venue.
One of Balia’s topo who was reluctant to be named when he met Kaili Post on the sidelines of the ritual said the Balia ceremony has long been abandoned. Because it contains elements of shirks to God. Because in the process of ritual, they ask for help from jinn or other subtle creatures. In this case, the dancers and Balia members will be entered by the spirit of the activity in this event. “If the Balia we do is not as extreme as other villages, they usually do things beyond the common sense of people by stepping on embers of fire,” he concluded.**
Reporter: Firmansyah
