Culture Festival Nusalaut
Kearifan Lokal > Local Knowledge and Skills
Happy Green Islands has been working for years with the youth association (AMGPM) of the Moluccan Protestant Church (GPM). We were invited to join them to Abubu, a small village on the island of Nusalaut, to experience the “Kearifan Lokal” festival. Getting there is a journey you won’t forget. Nearly every household offers up a bedroom. Meals are prepared to nourish and warmly welcome around 130 guests. The way this happens is something special!!!
Preserving culture and traditional values
Young people from the villages of the three islands in the Lease island group travel together. Each group has prepared something to present at the festival: drama, poetry, dance, and song. Bringing all those groups together and providing lodging in the small village of Abubu is a huge undertaking. Below is a play portraying the adat around “Meja Makan” (the dining table). Traditional norms and values are brought to life. Moluccan adat is fading. The youth want to keep it alive.
The influence of social media
Global technological developments are moving fast and draw a lot of attention from young people on the islands. Almost everyone has a mobile phone, and social media is popular. Often these developments are beautiful and positive—but they also have negative effects. The youth are calling on each other to defend against those effects. In the plays, in poetry—including the tradition of pantun—it becomes clear that social media is having a negative influence on Moluccan adat, traditions, and values. They urge one another to open up new paths to turn the tide. Happy Green Islands is thinking along with them. We’ll include this in the 2026–2029 annual plan.
National Heroes Day
The festival was intentionally scheduled on National Heroes Day—honoring those who had the courage to resist domination and exploitation. The youth and their leaders pay tribute by laying a wreath at the statue of Martha Christina, a woman who fought alongside the male hero Thomas Matulessy. The festival made a deep impression. It made unmistakably clear how strongly Moluccan youth hold on to their heroes, their adat, traditions, and local wisdom. A lesson not to be forgotten.
The man in the middle carrying the wreath is a descendant of the national hero Martha Christina.
