Patorani is a main ritual that performed in “Pesona Pulau Sanrobengi Festival” as the tradition in Takalar, Sanrobengi Island, South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Sanrobengi known as an island with beautiful sea and tourism spot as well in sulawesi. a variety of Makassar tradition performed in the festival, but “Patorani” is the main ceremony and ritual to see off the fisherman go sailing on the sea, seek and catch flying fish roes.

Image (KOMIRA)

Patorani rituals consist of some stages which are:

1. Accini Allo

It means determining “good day to” or “good time to”. the traditional elders and the fisherman deliberately determine the ‘time’ to go  sailing.

2. Annisi’

The fisherman pull the ship to the sea and prepare fishing gear called pakaja. pakaja is made from bamboo and coconut leaves.

3. Apparada

Fishermen paint their boats to make it colourful, ‘good looking’ and clean. they believe “the more nice the boat, the more fish they get”. then, they take the coconut leaves to be used as a flying fish wrapper (juku' tuing-tuing).

4. Appanai’ Pakkajang

The fishermen prepare the supplies on the boat with the helped by their family and relatives.

5. Appanaung rije’ne

This is the main ritual in patorani. the traditional elders, fishermen, and relatives sing the makassar traditional songs while pushing the boat into the sea and put the offerings containing bananas, coconut, chicken, and sticky rice, etc.

6. Appassili

The fishermen and all the men in charge pray together for the sake of safe sailing.

7. A’lappasa’

The fishermen go sailing to the sea to find flying fish. their families and relatives wave their hands and pray as well, wishing them blessings. this is the end of patorani rituals.

Patorani came from the word “torani", it is the name of the type of fish to be caught, flying fish. the local term of this fish is “tuing-tuing” while the latin term of it is “parexocoetus brachypterus”.

The flying fish has its own characteristics. they have wide pectoral fins that help them to glide over water. they fly to protect themselves from the predators. the flying fish that uses its pectoral fins and speed to break the surface of the water and fly up to 300 feet.

The flying fish roes are highly wanted by the takalar fisherman.  they are the main commodities in  takalar. they are exported with a high price. the price of one kilogram of fyling fish roes is about hundreds thousands dollars.

Tobiko (???) is the japanese word for flying fish roe. it is most widely known for its use in creating certain types of sushi. the eggs are small, ranging from 0.5 to 0.8 mm. the raw roe is very nutritious, due to its high vitamin content, high protein content, and large ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids