The Sikka (also Sikkanese, Sika) people are an

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

native to the region of east central

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Administratively, it forms the largest island in the East Nusa Tenggara Province. The area is 14,250 km2. Including Komodo and Rinca islands ...

between the Bloh and Napung Rivers. In the city of

Maumere Maumere is the administrative seat of the Sikka Regency and the second largest town (its nominal population has recently overtaken Ende, but of these over 10,500 live in rural areas on outlying islands) on Flores Island, Indonesia. It lies on th ...

, the center of the region and capital of the

Sikka Regency Sikka is a regency within East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, on the island of Flores. It is bordered to the west by Ende Regency and to the east by East Flores Regency. It covers an area of 1,675.36 km2 and had a population of 300,301 ...

, Sikka people occupy a separate block. The Sikka language, which is a member of the Timor-Ambon languages, is spoken by the Sikka people. The Sikka language has at least three recognized dialects, namely ''Sikka Natar'' dialect, ''Sara Krowe'' dialect and ''Ata Tana 'Ai'' or ''Sara Tana 'Ai'' dialect.

History

Timorese Sika

A group of

mestizo ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...

from Sikka and Europeans settled in 1851 as a voluntary recruits from the UK according to Sikka Dili over in

Portuguese Timor Portuguese Timor () was a Portuguese colony on the territory of present-day East Timor from 1702 until 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies. The first Europeans to arrive in the regio ...

. In that year, the Portuguese government had José Joaquim Lopes de Lima to sign a treaty with the Netherlands concluded that the west of

Timor Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...

island and other areas of the

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands (, , ), now known as Nusa Tenggara Islands (, or "Southeast Islands"), are an archipelago in the Indonesian archipelago. Most of the Lesser Sunda Islands are located within the Wallacea region, except for the Bali pro ...

are ceded to them. This agreement was later confirmed by the Treaty of Lisbon in 1859. The Sika people are formed in addition to the Bidau and Moradores as one of the three people groups that make up the

Portuguese Armed Forces The Portuguese Armed Forces () are the military of Portugal. They include the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the other unified bodies and the three service branches: Portuguese Navy, Portuguese Army and Portuguese Air Force. The Presi ...

in the colony. All three ethnic groups lived in separate districts of the capital. As for language they still retained their original

Malay language Malay ( , ; , Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language spoken primarily by Malays (ethnic group), Malays in several islands of Maritime Southeast Asia and the Malay Peninsula on the mainland Asia. The lang ...

, but later switched to a Creole Portuguese. Today they have been absorbed into the same population and do not form their own distinct group anymore.

Religion

Most Sika people are

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Many Sika people residing in the interior retain their traditional ancestral worship.

Culture

Sika people are part of the indigenous population of the

island. The material culture of the mountaineers retained more traditional elements than on the coast, especially in the western part, where the Catholic mission worked actively since the 17th century; where it is here that their culture acquired European features.

Traditional activities

Sika people engage in

slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a form of shifting cultivation that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a Field (agriculture), field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody p ...

agriculture with short forms of

shifting cultivation Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned while post-disturbance fallow vegetation is allowed to freely grow while the cultivator moves on to another plot. The period of cul ...

. In the west of the coastal area, irrigation is used. Food crops farming include rice, corn, cassava and millet; and other commodities are such as peanuts and coconut palm. Sika people also raise horses, small cattle and poultry. Coastal fishing is also common. Weaving and braiding are well developed. Commodity-money relations are intertwined with numerous survivals of the traditional communal system, where it is manifested in the system of land ownership, regulation of marriages and in everyday life.

Lifestyle

Mountain villages are small and have a circular layout, are located on the steep slopes of the mountains; which served as protection against attacks. In the middle of the settlement there is an area with a temple and sacred megalithic shrines. Coastal settlements have a linear plan, located along a road or river. The dwelling frame and pillar structure, pile, in the mountains is designed for large families, while in the coastal areas, for a small family. Clothing of those living in the interior consists of a skirt or loincloth. In coastal villages, they carry ''kain'' (cloth) and a jacket or shirt. The dietary of the Sika people are such as vegetable and mostly cereals from wheat and corn with spices, fruit and juice. Fish and meat are eaten on holidays.