VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Welcome to “Indonesian Wonder”, a daily segment featuring tourism, culinary arts, fine arts and culture from various regions across Indonesia. In today’s edition, we will introduce you to "Waruga Site in North Sulawesi".

Entering one of the historic sites in North Minahasa, it takes a bit of a struggle. Its location which is behind the housing and land residents makes one of the historic sites in North Sulawesi hidden. This is the Site of Waruga Sawangan which is an ancient tomb of megalithic relic of Minahasa people. Waruga in Minahasa is estimated to have developed at about the beginning of the 13th century BC. Waruga's first appearance was in Bukit Kelewer, Treman, and Tumaluntung areas, North Minahasa District. Waruga's appearance then continued to expand in various regions in North Sulawesi until an early 20th century AD.In pre-historic times, the Minahasa community still believed that the ancestral spirits has magical powers. Therefore, the grave is made in a special and beautiful ways. Waruga consists of two parts, body part and the cap. The body resembles a cube and the cap is like the roof.

Uniquely, Waruga is made by a person before he passed away. When the person would die, he entered the Waruga after being given full grave supplies. One day when it was done fully, it brought good things to his family.   Actually in North Sulawesi, there are many Waruga sites; one of them is in the Sawangan Village, Airmadidi Sub-district, North Minahasa regency. There are 143 Waruga sites in the village, divided into several sizes of groups such as 3 groups.

The first group is the small Waruga with 0-100 cm high for 10 pieces. The second group is medium-sized Waruga with 101-150 cm high for 52 pieces. Third gruop is the large size of Waruga with 151-250 cm high for 81 pieces. Waruga comes from the Tombulu language, which is from the syllable Wale Maruga which means the home of the processing dried-body. Waruga also has another meaning such as Wale Waru or grave from Domato or a kind of waxy soil. That was Indonesian Wonder for today with the topic “Waruga Site, in North Minahasa”.