An island village in the Northeastern tip of Indonesia, Madura Island, has kept a unique tradition alive, of bringing home sand. 

The front yard of most local houses in the area, sometimes even the insides, are adorned with fresh sand instead of tiled floors. 

Residents of the three coastal communities — Legung Timur, Legung Barat and Dapenda — collectively known as the sand village, believe sand brings comfort and healing.

Children from the communities play on the sand, while the village elders rest on it in a near vicinity. 

Residents of the area believe that the sand brings the community together and keeps an age-old tradition alive. 

To ensure the sand does not carry any wood or debris, it is cleaned through a round sieve made of layered mesh. 

The village elders even prefer ditching comfortable beds with mattresses for the familiarity of sleeping on sand in their bedrooms. 

For some, the sand even doubles as a bed during childbirth. Many older residents of the village were born on sandbeds when their mothers couldn’t reach hospitals or clinics in time.

The community believes in passing on the practice of bringing home sand from the previous generation.