Creating Time and Society. The Annual Cycle of the People of Langa in Eastern Indonesia

The essay is based on fieldwork among the Ngada of eastern Indonesia and examines their annual cycle which is a means of creating time, social structure, and collective identity. These processes are related to several crops like rice, maize, and, most importantly, yams which in mythology is traced back to the origins of society and is thus transformed into a mnemotechnical object. Confronted with global impacts since the beginning of the century, the symbols and rituals of the annual cycle have changed their meaning and are used today in order to balance tradition and modernity.