Sika (people)

Sika people
Sikanese / Sikka / Sara Sikka

Radja Don Josephus da Silva of Sika with his wife.
Total population
237,000
Regions with significant populations
Indonesia (Sikka Regency, East Nusa Tenggara)
Languages
Sika language, Indonesian language
Religion
Christianity (predominantly), Folk religion
Related ethnic groups
Solorese

The Sika (also Sikanese, Sikka or Sara Sikka) people are an Indonesian ethnic group native to the region of east central Flores between the Bloh and Napung Rivers. In the city of Maumere, the center of the region, Sika people occupy a separate block. The Sika language, which is a member of the Timor-Ambon language family, is spoken by the Sika people. The Sika language have at least three recognized dialects, namely Sikka Natar dialect, Sara Krowe dialect and Ata Tana 'Ai or Sara Tana 'Ai dialect.

A group of mestizo from Sikka and Europeans settled in 1851 as a voluntary recruits from the UK according to Sikka Dili over in Portuguese Timor. In that year, the Portuguese government had José Joaquim Lopes de Lima to sign a treaty with the Netherlands concluded that the west of Timor, Flores island and other areas of the Lesser Sunda Islands are ceded to them. This agreement was later confirmed by the Treaty of Lisbon in 1859. The Sika people are formed in addition to the Bidau and Moradores as one of the three people groups that make up the Portuguese Armed Forces in the colony. All three ethnic groups lived in separate districts of the capital. As for language they still retained their original Malay language, but later switched to a Creole Portuguese. Today they have been absorbed into the same population and do not form their own distinct group anymore.

The primary religion practiced by the Sika people is Roman Catholicism. Sika people residing in the interior still retain their traditional ancestral worship and Agrarianism cult.