orang Bunak

The Bunak (also known as Bunaq, Buna', Bunake) people are an ethnic group that live in the mountainous region of central Timor, split between the political boundary between West Timor, Indonesia, particularly in Lamaknen District and East Timor. Their language is one of those on Timor which is not an Austronesian language, but rather a Papuan language, belonging to the Trans–New Guinea linguistic family. They are surrounded by groups which speak Malayo-Polynesian languages, like the Atoni and the Tetum.

Today's settlement area of the Bunak people is located in the mountains of central Timor, ranging from the East Timorese town of Maliana in the north to the Timor Sea in the south, where both the Bunak and the Tetun communities often live side by side in coexistence. The Bunak people are isolated linguistically and socially, since the adjacent Kemak people to the north, the Mambai people in the east, the Tetun people in the south and west and the Atoni people speak to the west speak Malayo-Polynesian languages. Bunak is considered as being one of the Papuan languages, even though there are strong influences from the neighboring languages. The other Timorese Papuan languages are spoken in the east of Timor. Because of the language diversity in the region, the Bunak people are able to speak at least one of the Malayo-Polynesian languages fluently (in East Timor, Tetum is the lingua franca), while their surrounding neighbors rarely learn the Bunak language.

According to legend, there was once a man named Mau Ipi Guloq who first domesticated the water buffalo. Together with his brother Asa Pharan, he one day caught two sows, which turned into women. His brother, however, claimed both women for himself, which eventually led Mau Ipi Guloq to part with him after a fight. One day a crow disturbed his buffalo, and so Mau Ipi Guloq shot a golden arrow at the bird with a golden blowpipe that he had borrowed from his brother. The crow flew with the arrow and Mau Ipi Guloq followed her into the underworld, where he met her sick ruler. Mau Ipi Guloq offered his help and discovered that his golden arrow was stuck in the ruler. He exchanged it with a bamboo arrow, which he soaked in his betel pouch. The ruler of the underworld was restored to health and gave Mau Ipi Guloq two oranges from a tree in the Underworld that turned into princesses.

Just as with any other Timorese ethnic group, there was originally no written tradition. All history and traditions were passed in by word of mouth until the coming of European colonization. Rich traditions do exist among the Timorese, especially the Bunak people. These narrative traditions are recited with repetition, rhyme and alliteration. This helps the performer remember the verses.