Kampung Naga: Traditions and Sustainability
I grew up and spent my childhood in a rural area of Tasikmalaya, a small city in West Java, Indonesia. Tasikmalaya has a very fertile land and I remember that my playground was a very vast stretch of paddy fields with beautiful mountains in the horizon. There's always something special in everyone's nostalgic memories of their hometown. As a kid, I remember spending my whole afternoon after school running in the paddy's fields, catching dragonflies, playing barefoot football in newly-cropped muddy rice field, or flying my kites with my friends. I still remember how the sun set beautifully in the west of the fields, slowly hiding behind Mount Galunggung.
I lived in a kampung (village) named Bojong Nangka. It's a small village surrounded by rice fields. Most of the people of Bojong Nangka worked as farmers. Some of them, like my father, worked as construction workers in the city. We lived a very simple life. I have traveled so far, from where I was to where I am now. Comparing how the people in Bojong Nangka lived with how the urban inhabitants of large cities (which now I am part of) like Jakarta or Sydney lived, I would say my childhood neighbors lived much more sustainable. We didn't consume as much as the urban people do. We walked (or cycled) to commute. Almost none of us had a car and very small number of us had motorcycle. We rarely used public transport too, as for the majority of us, travelling to city was considered a luxury. Sadly by true, the condition has changed over the years now. Bojong Nangka is more modernized. More and more people owns motorcycle and the way they consume is getting more similar to the people of big cities. My kampung could not resist the force of modernization.
However, there is a kampung in Tasikmalaya which is able to preserve their traditions for decades without being influenced by the modernization. Kampung Naga, translated as 'village of the dragon', is the name of this special village.
Kampung Naga Traditional Village (Kusuma 2013)
Kampung Naga is located in the center of a valley in Neglasari, Salawu, Tasikmalaya, West Java, Indonesia. What makes this village special is that its people preserve their traditions and local wisdom passed on for generations by their ancestors. The people of Kampung Naga, as in many other parts of west Java, are Sundanese. I myself is a Sundanese. It's one of the major ethnic in Java Island. We, as Sundanese, have a general saying, "Saeutik cukup. Loba Nyesa". These words have a very deep meaning related to the way we make use of the environment and consume resources. If translated literally, it means "small is enough, too much will cause remains/leftover". In other words it's simply saying: "do not take more than what you need from the nature". This principle is strongly implemented by the people of Kampung Naga.
The decision to keep simple way of life (for example: having no electricity and keep their vernacular housings) is a very conscious decision. Geographically speaking, this village is already easily accessible by the modern infrastructure such as electricity and road networks. In fact, it's only a few hundred meters away from a major state line connecting the city of Tasikmalaya and Garut.
Despite its location and proximity to the 'modern' world, Kampung Naga preserves its own traditions
(Google Earth Image digitally processed by the Author 2016)
The local wisdom of Kampung Naga is closely correlated to their traditional belief. The rules applicable in this area are based on their belief system: a unique mixture of Traditional Beliefs from their ancestors and Islam, their practiced religion. Generally, area of Kampung Naga is divided into three parts: Forest Area, Settlement Area and Outer Area (Hermawan 2014).
The Forest Area (or as the local calls it Leuweung), covers two forests, which are Leuweung Karamat (The Sacred Forest) and Leuweung Tutupan (Closed Forest). These forests are protected from damages by the traditional rules. Housings are located in the Settlement Area. Besides the housings, the settlement area also covers a Mosque, a Bale Patemon (Gathering Hall), Luit (The Village Barn), and Bumi Ageung (storage for valuable relics). Outer Area are considered the "Back Area". It covers communal bathrooms (because they don't have bathrooms in individual homes), public toilets, Saung Lesung (rice mill), cages for sheep and chickens, fish ponds and the rice fields.
There are, and have always been, 111 houses in Kampung Naga. This number has never changed. There is a strict rule in their tradition constraining the growth of the settlement not to exceed 111 houses. The forests are always maintained partly because the settlement never grows. The way of the houses are being built is also strictly regulated by the local traditions including the use of materials (wood, bamboo, dry leaves), orientation (north-south), no furniture allowed, no doors facing each other, etc.
Houses in Kampung Naga (Kusuma 2013)
References:
Hermawan, I 2014, 'Bangunan Tradisional Kampung Naga: Bentuk Kearifan Warisan Leluhur Masyarakat Sunda', (Traditional Buildings of Kampung Naga: Wisdom of Ancestar Legacies of the Sundanese), Sosio Didaktita, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 141 - 150,
Kusuma, B 2013, 'Mengunjungi dan Mempelajari Budaya Kampung Naga', (Visiting and Learning the Culture of Kampung Naga), kompas.com, 18 September, accessed 23 March 2016,
