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Pamona people

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Origins

As a matter of fact, the Pamona people are not identical with the Poso people. This is because in anthropological terms there is no Poso people but only a geographical region called Poso, which is inhabited by the Pamona people. There is also a belief that the word poso came from the word maposo in the local To Pobare'e language which means "break". Whereas according to several notable Poso people, the word poso actually came from the word poso'o that means "fasterner" or "bonds", that gave the name to Poso city with the intention to bind or to unite among the Pamona people that came from the mountains (lake side) and also those that came from the coastal region. While the origin of the name Poso which means "break" is said to have started from the formation of Lake Poso. Apparently Lake Poso was formed from a slab of earth from a hill, where below the slab of earth was a spring of water. Surrounding the mountains are the low lands, until the water flow from the mountains filled around the mountain. The pool of water eroded the earth around the hill until the water penetrate the earth exposing the groundwater. As a result, this caused an abrasion to a volatile soil structure that is somewhat sandy. Slowly the hillside was unable to withstand the weight of the hill above it, causing a landslide that brought the hill down into the wallow of spring below the mountain until a small lake was formed. For the Pamona community, the event of the collapse of the mountain is often mentioned until they coined the word "Lake Poso" which is given as a name to the then newly formed lake. Over time, the lake expanded because of the water source from around the mountain flowed to the new lake. Consequently, the water level of the lake began to rise until the breadth of the lake's surface expended and became wider. (2008As the water begin to continually fill the lake until the lake could no longer contained it, a river was formed and flowed towards the coastal region. As the river came from Lake Poso, therefore it was named with the same name, Poso River. The river mouth of the newly formed river is then occupied by a sizable population, as there is an abundance of fish found in the river. Thus, it is said that the group of the new residents then named the village with the name, "Poso".

There are several ethnics that lived in Poso and they are known as:

  • Pamona
  • Poso Pesisir
  • Mori
  • Bada
  • Napu
  • Tojo
  • Kaili
  • Padoe
  • Lore
  • Taa Wana

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