According to the Waerebo elders, the Compang, the stone altar at the centre of the village, has stood for more than 1,000 years, long before the Majapahit kingdom reached its height. It marks that the ancestors of the Waerebo people have lived in this mountain valley for over a millennium. Every major ritual begins and ends here. Every prayer to the ancestors is offered here. The Compang is the heart of a customary life that still beats today.
So what about the seven iconic cone shaped houses you see in the photographs?
Those houses, the Mbaru Niang, were first built in the 1920s. Not because the community was new, but because Manggarai customary houses are rebuilt periodically according to the customary cycle. The buildings may change. The spirit lives in the Compang.
That is what makes Waerebo more than an "old village". It is not the age of the buildings, but a continuity of life unbroken for more than 1,000 years. UNESCO recognised this: in 2012 Waerebo received the highest award for cultural heritage conservation in the Asia Pacific.
