Photo Essay: Bau Nyale in Lombok, Indonesia

Once a year in Kuta, Lombok, Indonesia, the palolo worms that live in the reef come out to spawn, and locals celebrate with the Bau Nyale festival.

Child jockeys come from Sumbawa and East Lombok to race horses on the strand.

Like Firman, 7, from Bima in Sumbawa.

Who fell, horrifically, yet cried not from the pain but because he hadn’t won.

After the race, young men do battle with rattan sticks and leather shields; retired fighters act as umpires.

It’s friendlier than it might look, though.

No Indonesian event would be complete without an MC, and this one was loving it.

Some diehards stay late that night, at the myriad food and drink stands which line the ceremonial route, looking for the worms. But they won’t come in any numbers until tomorrow.

The next day, a vast, costumed carnival snakes for miles from Kuta to Seger Beach. The prize on offer? 15 million rupiah, well over a thousand US dollars, and more than a year’s salary at Lombok’s minimum wage.

Rain puts a damper on proceedings. But only slightly.

A lot of women dress as Princess Mandalika, the princess who turned herself into the worms. So does one brave chap.

Government dignitaries arrive, along with a posse of black magicians who test their oil of immunity by slicing their stomachs with razor-sharp kris swords. (Indonesians, generally, take magic very seriously.)

And then the drama begins, telling the story of Princess Mandalika, who leaped into the sea to stop a war between rival suitors, and returns every year as worms.

Thousands upon thousands turn out to see the bands. There are two girl groups from Lombok, and Kotak, flown in from Jakarta: the lead singer is a judge on Indonesian Idol.

A wayang puppet master performs an environment drama, sponsored by an NGO, complete with roaring motorbike.

While men and women engage in a ritual exchange of utter filth – in Sasak, Lombok’s local language, not Indonesian – folk begin to head down to the beach to wait for worms. Patience is a virtue, here. The old sleep; young mothers arrive with rested children, ready for the day; the beach boys prowl impatiently up and down, zooming off on bikes to beaches where there might be better pickings.

And then there’s a roar! And a surge! The worms are in! And the beach is crammed with people. Hunting with fishing nets, bottles, buckets, old paint tins, by flashlight and mobile phone….

The worms come in four colours: blue, red, green and white. They are not beautiful.

Especially not en masse.

But that doesn’t stop the searchers looking, wading far out, barefoot over sharp coral and sea urchins, dancing with joy as each breaking wave sweeps in a new bounty.

As dawn rises, the strand is still alive with people.

The blue and white worms are turned into magic oils that bring success in life and love. The red and green? You eat them at home, or sell them to the market traders.

And then housewives buy them in turn.

Hardly anyone in Kuta has slept that night, and some haven’t slept for forty-eight hours. But there’s more. A boat race, an old tradition revived for tourist pull, in the single-outrigger fishing boats so typical of south Lombok, a vertiginous balance between wave and reef.

And then for me – though not the beach boys and the surfers – it’s time to sleep. It’s been,

Want to go? The Bau Nyale festival happens in the tenth month of Lombok’s Sasak calendar, usually in late February or early March: a gaggle of traditional experts set the date a few weeks ahead of time. The 2016 date for the Bau Nyale festival is 28-29 February, with some events on 27 February: you can book discount Kuta accommodation on Agoda or splurge on Novotel Lombok which is right in the heart of the action.