Traveling Cross and its Function in the Context of Nation-making in East Timor

This presentation is an analysis of the social impact of the religious practice of the Youth Cross (Cruz Joven) in East Timor on the local society. Youth Cross is a wooden cross which was brought in East Timor in order to deepen the Catholic faith. It would travel throughout and was welcomed by the people in each district. The cross, introduced during the era of the Indonesian occupation in the 1990s, travels through parishes each year and is displayed there.

The paper will begin with a brief description of the Youth Cross. It will depict it as the product of the Catholic faith and local traditions in East Timor. Next, I will show how the Youth Cross, traveling through the country, affects the Timorese society. On the basis of the data collected through the fieldwork, the significance of these social practices in the context of the East Timorese nation-building will be clarified after describing the cultural events and programs planned at the village level in conjunction with the arrival of the cross. I will particularly focus on what kind of geographical and temporal imaginaries the cross is associated with among the people in East Timor.