Tag: culture
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My exotic culture
When I first moved to Timor-Leste, people would ask me, earnestly and curiously, how we did certain things in my country. Weddings, funerals, Christmas celebrations, the bride price negotiation upon a new engagement… just as I felt in coming to their country, they were keen to learn more about a new culture. Mine. But I…
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How I shop in Timor-Leste markets
A few small words that helped me last year: satu, dua, tiga, empat, lima. Like Latin proverb they may look, they’re actually the numbers one to five in Bahasa Indonesia, and the key that unlocked the magic of Timor-Leste market shopping for me. Any visitor to Dili will come across the fruit market at Lecidere,…
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Photo essay: Hera tara bandu
Last week I attended a tara bandu ceremony in Hera, a village about 30 minutes out of Dili, with some colleagues from work and our office’s trusty old camera. Tara bandu is a traditional ceremony that regulates how land can be used and imposes punishment for breaking the rules. My NGO, RAEBIA, uses it to enshrine regulations…
Sophie Rai Liur 