Taka from Ngada

 

Taka

Origin: Ngada, West Central Flores, Indonesia

Material: brass

This is taka, a pendant in double ax-head shape. The form is amazingly similar to the Sumba marangga but there does not seem to be an awareness in Flores that there is similar jewelry on the other island.

These taka pendant is typical Ngada pieces, used throughout the Bajawa area. Adat experts there asserted that the shape represents an ax. Taka are worn by men or women around the neck on a chain or suspended singly from a headband worn above the eyebrows. They are used as part of the bridewealth payments and can also be inherited from one's parents. The taka apparently have a certain sacred quality, for they may only be taken out of their special strongboxes into the daylight after a small animal such as a piglet has been sacrificed.