The Bridewealth Textiles of Lembata Lembata is home to several weaving traditions, including those of Lamalera and Atad i in the south and Ile Ape in the north. The name almost mocks reality for few places in Indonesia have such a long or harsh dry season. Most of Lembata's weavers live in coastal villages where the terrain is dry and rocky and allows little cultivation with vegetation and temperatures more akin to those of nearby northern Australia than Bali and Java. Rainwater is saved during the three-month monsoon and carefully portioned out during the rest of the year.
People rely on the ocean as their primary source of protein.
Dried fish is bartered with communities in the mountains for staples such as rice, corn, and sweet potato, as well as green vegetables and other goods. Most of the fishing is done from hand-crafted wooden sailing boats. Motors are seldom used. The boatmen cannot afford such things and were one boat to have a mechanical advantage over the others it would destroy the harmony of the community. Fishing Lembata-style affords no more than a bare subsistence existence.