Pamona (often referred to as Poso, Bare'e, or To Pamona) people inhabits almost the entire

Poso Regency Poso Regency is a Regencies of Indonesia, regency of Central Sulawesi Province of Indonesia. It covers an area of 7,112.25 km2, and had a population of 209,228 at the 2010 Census and 244,875 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid ...

, parts of

Tojo Una-Una Regency Tojo Una-Una Regency is a regency of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The administrative centre is at Ampana town, on the Sulawesi 'mainland'. While the Regency includes a considerable area on the eastern peninsula of Sulawesi, it also includes the To ...

and parts of

North Morowali Regency North Morowali Regency is a regency in the province of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17, ...

Central Sulawesi Central Sulawesi (Indonesian: ''Sulawesi Tengah'') is a province of Indonesia located at the centre of the island of Sulawesi. The administrative capital and largest city is located in Palu. The 2010 census recorded a population of 2,635,009 for ...

; in fact there are some even in

East Luwu Regency East Luwu Regency is the most easterly of the twenty-one regencies in South Sulawesi Province of Indonesia. Malili is the capital of East Luwu Regency. The population of East Luwu Regency was 243,069 at the 2010 Census and 296,741 at the 2020 C ...

South Sulawesi South Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Selatan) is a province in the southern peninsula of Sulawesi. The Selayar Islands archipelago to the south of Sulawesi is also part of the province. The capital is Makassar. The province is bordered by Central Sula ...

, whereas a small remainder lives in other parts of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. The ancestors of the Pamona people originally came from the land of Salu Moge (

) because they were once from the mountains which is far from the central governance thus they were brought down by Macoa Bawalipu of Wotu,

to be nearer to the central governance, which is the surrounding region of Mangkutana (

). But it was until a revolt by the

Darul Islam (Indonesia) Darul Islam ( meaning '' House of Islam''), also known as Darul Islam/Islamic Armed Forces of Indonesia ( id, Darul Islam/Tentara Islam Indonesia, DI/TII), was an Islamist group that fought for the establishment of an Islamic state in Indonesi ...

rebellion broke out that they spread to

and to other regions. If there are Pamona people in certain regions, then it is common that a ''Rukun Poso'' (Poso community association) is formed there, which serves as a means of a group of people from a common ethnic background to engage in various activities within the region. Almost all of the Pamona people practices

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

came into the region about 100 years ago and until today it is widely accepted as the religion of the people. Today, all churches of common denomination are grouped under the

Central Sulawesi Christian Church The Central Sulawesi Christian Church ( id, Gereja Kristen Sulawesi Tengah) is the largest Christian church in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. It belongs to the Reformed family of churches. The church was established in the early 1893 through the missi ...

headquartered in Tentena,

. A large part of the common folk uses

Pamona language Pamona (also ''Poso'' or ''Bare’e'') is an Austronesian language spoken in Central and South Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is part of the northern group of the Kaili–Pamona languages. Dialects ''Ethnologue'' lists the following as dialects: Laiw ...

and

Bahasa Indonesia Indonesian ( ) is the official and national language of Indonesia. It is a standardized variety of Malay, an Austronesian language that has been used as a lingua franca in the multilingual Indonesian archipelago for centuries. Indonesia is t ...

language that is mixed with the local slang. The Pamona people are usually farmers, government officials, pastors, entrepreneurs and so on.

Origins

As a matter of fact, the Pamona people are not identical with the Poso people. This is because in anthropological terms there is no Poso people but only a geographical region called

Poso Poso ( Old Spelling: ''Posso'') is the administrative capital of Poso Regency, Indonesia. It is the main port and transportation hub for the central-southern coast of Central Sulawesi. Its urban area consists of three districts, Poso Kota, North ...

, which is inhabited by the Pamona people. There is also a belief that the word ''poso'' came from the word ''maposo'' in the local To Pobare'e language which means "break". Whereas according to several notable Poso people, the word ''poso'' actually came from the word ''poso'o'' that means "fasterner" or "bonds", that gave the name to

city with the intention to bind or to unite among the Pamona people that came from the mountains (lake side) and also those that came from the coastal region. While the origin of the name ''Poso'' which means "break" is said to have started from the formation of

Lake Poso Lake Poso ( id, Danau Poso) is a lake in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the third-deepest lake in Indonesia. The town of Pendolo is situated at the southern end of the lake, the town of Tentena is located at the northern end, while a numbe ...

. Apparently

was formed from a slab of earth from a hill, where below the slab of earth was a spring of water. Surrounding the mountains are the low lands, until the water flow from the mountains filled around the mountain. The pool of water eroded the earth around the hill until the water penetrate the earth exposing the

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

. As a result, this caused an abrasion to a volatile soil structure that is somewhat sandy. Slowly the hillside was unable to withstand the weight of the hill above it, causing a landslide that brought the hill down into the wallow of spring below the mountain until a small lake was formed. For the Pamona community, the event of the collapse of the mountain is often mentioned until they coined the word "

" which is given as a name to the then newly formed lake. Over time, the lake expanded because of the water source from around the mountain flowed to the new lake. Consequently, the water level of the lake began to rise until the breadth of the lake's surface expended and became wider. (2008As the water begin to continually fill the lake until the lake could no longer contained it, a river was formed and flowed towards the coastal region. As the river came from

, therefore it was named with the same name, Poso River. The

river mouth A river mouth is where a river flows into a larger body of water, such as another river, a lake/reservoir, a bay/gulf, a sea, or an ocean. At the river mouth, sediments are often deposited due to the slowing of the current reducing the carrying ...

of the newly formed river is then occupied by a sizable population, as there is an abundance of fish found in the river. Thus, it is said that the group of the new residents then named the village with the name, "

". There are several ethnics that lived in

and they are known as:- * Pamona people * Mori people * Bada or Badar people * Napu people * Tojo people * Kaili people * Padoe people * Lore people * Taa people

Pamona Customary Foundation

The name Pamona also refers to an association of a few ethnics, which is the abbreviation for ''Pakaroso Mosintuwu Naka Molanto'' (Pamona). Later Pamona became an ethnic group that were unified under the governance of

Dutch colonial Dutch Colonial is a style of domestic architecture, primarily characterized by gambrel roofs having curved eaves along the length of the house. Modern versions built in the early 20th century are more accurately referred to as "Dutch Colonial Rev ...

. The name Pamona was declared in Tentena, and even a commemoration of the declaration was made by erecting a monument called ''Watu Mpoga'a'' as a remembrance of their origin and also naming of a street, Pamona. Historically, the institutionalized of the Pamona customs was previously divided by a few authorities. For

, it was led by Datue Poso and a few of his ''kabosenya'' (meaning, elders) that represent each of their own ethnic groups. If in Luwuland, it is led by Makole Tawi and the existence of the institution of Pamona customary currently is divided into two assemblies in

, namely ''Majelis Adat Lemba Pamona Poso'', while in Luwuland (

and

North Luwu Regency North Luwu Regency is a regency of South Sulawesi Province of Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands ...

) is the ''Lembaga Adat Lemba Pamona Luwu''. At the moment, the existence of these assemblies are still preserved by the Pamona community be it those that are in Mangkutana,

and

, nor those that are in

Language

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Twee meisjes uit Poso in feestkleding TMnr 10005915

The language that is used by the Pamona people is called

. The structure of

is unique in terms of syllables of the root word, where a root word may have different meanings when a prefix, suffix, inserts or affixes are added. An example of a root word that have been changed after a prefix, suffix or affix is added and forms different meanings to it, such as:- Another example:- There are also several root words that are classified as inventive words (just like the previous examples which are part of inventive words but are not classified as inventive words) with only a change of the alphabetical positions, thus creating another meaning. For example:- The

is unique where there are numerous phase of syllables that can be twisted to form a different meaning, for instance:- Other examples:-

Art

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Avondmaalviering te Poso Sulawesi TMnr 10000743

Music

Traditionally, the Pamona people have a style of music in a form of

spoken word poetry Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

. An example of this style of music frequently sung among village folk in the 1940s:-

Dance

Dero or Madero dance is a popular dance among the Pamona people. This dance are usually seen during festivals and normally the dancers are young people. This dance is done in circular motion with hands holding each other while exchanging poems accompanied by joyful music. In a few districts in Palu forbids Dero or Madero dancing activities because it often becomes the cause of scuffles among young boys who seek the attention of young girls. The Dero dance is differentiated by three types of swaying and footwork movements by the rhythm of the music. The first is called ''ende ntonggola'', where two steps are taken to the right, a step backwards and then repeat. This dance is performed during the fullmoon celebration, which indicates the season for preparing the land for farming. The time for farming begins when the fullmoon ends. The following dance movement is called ''ende ngkoyoe'' or ''ende ntoroli'', that is two steps to the right and a step to the left. This dance movement is meant during the time of collecting the harvest, during special occasion, or festivals. The final dance movement is called ''ende ada'' (customary), which is performed during the celebration of customary holidays or festivals. The dance movements are the same as ''ende ntoroli'', except that the dancers do not hold each other's hands. The Dero dance also forms as a means of courting in public, except for Raego dance which is rather cultural and not associated with courting.

Surnames

Pamona surnames include:- *Awundapu *Banumbu *Bali'e *Baloga *Belala *Betalino *Beto *Botilangi *Bulinde *Bungkundapu *Bungu *Buntinge *Bakumawa *Dike *Dongalemba *Gilirante *Gimbaro *Gugu *Gundo *Kaluti *Kampindo *Kambodji *Kalembiro *Kalengke *Karape *Karebungu *Kayori *Kayupa *Koedio *Kogege *Kolombuto *Kolobinti *Kuko *Lakiu *Langgari *Ladjamba *Lambangasi *Labiro *Liante *Lidongi *Lu'o *Lumaya *Lolongudju *Manganti *Meringgi *Mogadi *Mossepe *Mowose *Monepa *Monipo *Nyolo-nyolo *Nggau *Nggo'u *Nua *Nyaua *Pakuli *Palaburu *Parimo *Pariu *Paroda *Pasunu *Patara *Pebadja *Penina *Pekita *Penyami *Pesudo *Poa *Pombaela *Pobonde *Podala *Polempe *Purasongka *Rangga *Ratengku *Pusuloka *Rampalino *Rampalodji *Rantelangi *Rare'a *Ruagadi *Rubo *Rumbani *Ruutana *Satigi *Sancu'u *Sawiri *Sigilipu *Sipatu *So'e *Sowolino *Tabanci *Tadanugi *Tadalangi *Tadale *Tadadja *Tadjaji *Talasa *Tambo'eo *Tarante *Tasiabe *Tawuku *Tawurisi *Tekora *Tepara *Tiladuru *Tolala *Tobondo *Tobogu *Tolimba *Torau *Toumbo *Tumonggi *Turuka *Ule *Ululai *Warara *Wenali *Werokila nce'i to mori *Wuri *Wutabisu

Origins

Pamona Customary Foundation

Language

Art

Music

Dance

Surnames

See also

References

Further reading