IDENTIDADE TIMORENSE

Two priests, Father Diakobi and Father
Xakob (Jacob), come from overseas
to Timor, with their servants. In
some accounts Felis Marindo accompanies
them as one of the servants,
while in others he precedes and
awaits them, or even summons them
to Timor.
His own origins are represented as
unknown.
Although he is Christian (sarani), he
is not a priest, and tellers and commentators
alike were adamant that he
was not a Malaia (a white foreigner)
but 'black, like us'.Either together or
separately, he and the missionaries
arrive at Bandeira Fun (Base of the
Flag), which is the ancestral origin
village of the Aileun chiefs.
There the priests begin to build a
chapel and to baptise members of the
population, including the chief's wife.
This antagonises the chief, who in
most accounts (with the notable exception
of a version narrated by one
of his descendants) orders the priests
to be killed.
Diakobi and his servant are killed.
To hide the crime, the priest's body is
buried in the chapel, in a standing
position, his hands extended upward,
as if in prayer.
Xakob departs for Soibada, which
later became the seat of a seminary
14
and a centre of learning, whereas in
Aileu, several tellers observed, the
population remains ignorant to this
day.
Tat Felis, who witnessed the murder,
strikes out alone. He settles in a variety
of places, but, after a few years in
each, he moves on.
He leaves behind a trail of houses,
stone altars and other material remains
that residents now represent
as the traces of his passage.
Many of these are located in sukus
Rai Laku and Seloi, to the north west
of Aileu villa.
Eventually, his path turns southward,
into the mountainous interior, and all
tellings converge on one destination:
Tat Felis arrives at Hohul, where he
is well received by the people.
He becomes the patron of one of the
Hohul houses, Fad Liurai, which he
divides into pagan (sentiua) and
Christian (sarani) halves, as it remains
to this day.
He establishes his own village just
below Hohul, at the place called
Tutreda (probably from uma-kreda,
house of worship or church), where
an apparition of the Virgin had previously
appeared.
Here he performs a variety of
'miracles' (milagre) centred on productivity
and wealth. Although he
Dezembro 2010 – №3
Internasional
never seems to toil, his gardens
thrive and he always has good things
to eat, including such delicacies as
bread and eggs.
One teller attributed to him an inexhaustible
cooking pot that was always
full, no matter how much he served to
his guest.
Suspicions of sorcery begin to circulate,
on the grounds that he makes
things 'appear out of nowhere and
materialise (from thin air)' (mous nor
dleus).
Liurai, the Hohul house he visits, is
the place of justice within the ritual
sphere, where Hohul leaders settle
disputes related to ritual duties.
One day, when the chief responsible
for such matters is away, Felis offers
to settle a dispute between two villages
regarding their respective
prestation obligations.
The chief's wife overhears him and
tells her husband that Tat Felis has
'usurped his right' (and thus his manhood).
A complex chain of command is set
in motion that begins with a complaint
against Tat Felis lodged by the Hohul
chief and leads to his arrest and delivery
to the Aileun chiefs on charges
of sorcery. The chiefs want to turn the
matter over to the Portuguese administrator,
but the latter is impressed by
Felis's spiritual powers and becomes
the Pilate figure in the drama that
now unfolds.
He hands Felis back to the Aileun
chiefs, who send him to the kingdom
of Motain, near Dili, to be execu ted.
A large part of the story consists of
graphic descriptions of the various
execution attempts: he is buried alive,
starved, doused with oil and locked in
an oven, but after each attempt he
emerges unscathed.
Felis's punishment figures in all versions,
but the narrative resolutions
vary.
In versions narrated by Hohul people,
Felis eventually either escapes or is
released from his captivity.
After this, he periodically reappears
and disappears (mous nor lakon). At
length, he returns to the villa of Aileu
and rides into the church.
Passers-by observe the horse's footprints
going into the church, but neither
horse nor rider re-emerges.