See life of Legung “Sandman” village, how can they sleep and giving birth on sand ?

21 July 2009 One Comment

For majority of Legung Village, District Sumenep, Madura Island, Indonesia, sand is an eternal friend of their life. Sand would never be far away from their daily activity. They play with sand, they work with sand, they sleep with sand even when they pregnant they would giving birth on sand. No wonder then, Legung people also known as “Sandman”.

Legung Village, situated on Sumenep District of Madura Island, East Java Indonesia, we can reach this Island from Surabaya then go either by car/motorcycle via Suramadu Bridge that connect Java Island and Madura Island or land our car/motorcycle to Sea Ferry. If it would be your first visit to this village, I bet you, we would be amuse to see how sand are everywhere on this village, all house will have sand all over the place, even if we go further inside, we won’t find any bed but spread of sand instead.

Sand have been very identical with life of about 900 families who mostly earn living as fisherman, they believe sand can heal and maintain their health. This tradition have been done by their ancestor for years. However, lots of people have witness how Legung’s sand therapy able to cure many diseases.

This behavior then had become a very interesting point for tourist to visit this place, and sometime it also bring researcher interest to studying Legung’s people sand life. Oh ya the sand they used as bed is clean white sand, no coral or graver on it, so it’s comfortable enough being used as coaster to sleep.