Once a year, in the full moon night of February or March, the residents of island Lombok, located in West Nusa Tenggara, celebrate a unique festival.
For a day or two (it differs from year to year), they celebrate the appearace of the colored Nyale worms. The worms that are emitted to Kota coast are regarded, by the locals, as a delicatessen. They believe that the worms have plenty and love characters. After a unique religous cermony, the collection of the worms starts and continue gladly for the whole night.
According to the local legends, once upon a time a princes named Mandalika lived on the island. She decided to sacrifice herself to the Gods by juming to the sea, but before her jump she promised to come back every year as a Nyale worm.
Putri Bau Nyale Putri Mandalika (Mandalika Festival)
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Indonesia background and overview
The Dutch began to colonize Indonesia in the early 17th century; the islands were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945. Indonesia declared its independence after Japan's surrender, but it required four years of intermittent negotiations, recurring hostilities, and UN mediation before the Netherlands agreed to relinquish its colony. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state and home to the world's largest Muslim population. Current issues include: alleviating poverty, preventing terrorism, consolidating democracy after four decades of authoritarianism, implementing financial sector reforms, stemming corruption, holding the military and police accountable for human rights violations, and controlling avian influenza. In 2005, Indonesia reached a historic peace agreement with armed separatists in Aceh, which led to democratic elections in December 2006. Indonesia continues to face a low intensity separatist guerilla movement in Papua.
[Courtesy of The World Factbook]
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