Background
Tana Toraja (or Toraja Land) is famous for the traditional burial ceremonies amongst its Christian population.
When people die, they’re preserved (formerly using balsam but now with formalin) then kept at home for up to a few years while funds are accumulated for an elaborate ceremony or while relatives are brought together for the ceremony. Organs are not removed but fluids are left to run out. Our guide does say that it stinks a bit having the departed around in the home.
It can take a while to save up for a big event as it involves the sacrifice and sharing of dozens of buffaloes. Each can cost the equivalent of thousands of US dollars.
While the funeral season is truly over, we were lucky enough to have organised an invitation (tour) in advance to attend the funeral of a deceased couple.
Cave Graves at Lemo
Our guide Yosep along with driver Nasan picked us up at 0900. We were running late due to the long day on the bus yesterday.
We made a stop at Lemo before proceeding to the funeral. Here at Lemo, graves are made in the face of rocky cliffs, known as as cave burials. Cave burials may be made into natural crevasses but since metal implements were introduced, holes have been made into cliff faces for this purpose as well.
Society in the early days was stratified much like a frequent flyer programme … Gold, Silver … etc. People with high status are also allowed a tautau or statue on the cliff face.
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- Tautau (statues) and graves in the cliff face.
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- Tautau (statues) and graves in the cliff face.
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- Tautau (statues) and graves in the cliff face.
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- Tautau are used only by people with high status … gold members of the community.
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- Tautau are used only by people with high status … gold members of the community.
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- Graves in the cliff face.
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- Around Lemo village.
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- Around Lemo village.
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- Around Lemo village.
Funeral
We continued to the funeral ceremony near Ulusalu. As soon as we had arrived, we saw that the two certainties in life (death and taxes) were present at the ceremony. There was a counter where taxes on food and donation were being collected, in addition to levies by the church.
Guests comprising family members, neighbours, fellow villagers and villagers from surrounding areas are herded into numbered sheds.
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- One of the first sights at the funeral is the tax counter … for the government and church. Tax and Death are the two certainties in life.
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- Numbered waiting sheds line the path to the funeral site.
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- Numbered waiting sheds line the path to the funeral site.
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- Numbered waiting sheds line the path to the funeral site.
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- Numbered waiting sheds line the path to the funeral site.
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- Numbered waiting sheds line the path to the funeral site.
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- Numbered waiting sheds line the path to the funeral site.
Guests await their turn to present their gifts, including livestock, to their hosts, the family of the deceased. In return, guests receive chunks of pig slaughtered in the background. But guests like us bring a gift of cigarettes and get coffee/tea and biscuits. Phew!
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- Pigs as gifts.
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- Pigs as gifts.
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- Funeral ceremony in progress.
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- Prayer time.
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- People take their turns to go up to the reception hall.
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- Pigs as gifts.
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- People take their turns to go up to the reception hall.
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- People take their turns to go up to the reception hall.
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- Buffalo as gift.
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- People coming out from the reception hall.
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- Many guests are seated under these rice barns.
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- Many guests are seated under these rice barns.
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- Pigs as gifts.
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- White buffalo head signifies it is home of someone of status.
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- People take their turns to go up to the reception hall.
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- Village of the funeral.
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- Village of the funeral.
We learnt that the deceased were a couple. He died 4 years ago while she a year later. Their bodies were kept high on an elaborate platform while most of the activities occurred at ground level.
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- The bodies are kept on this platform.
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- The bodies are kept on this platform.
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- The bodies are kept on this platform.
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- Gifts of buffaloes being presented.
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- Guests moving to the reception hall.
We were there on Day 1 of a ceremony that takes days. The most colourful part (literally) is probably the slaughtering of the buffaloes! One had been sacrificed before we arrived and some more will be sacrificed on Day 3 (as I was told). It was a mix of disappointment and relief that I didn’t have (or get) to witness something so uniquely gory that will make a real man of me.
Once slaughtered, animals are cut up on a high platform according to their tradition. And the buffaloes presented by guests are not sacrificed but kept for future occasions. I guess its like not using the awkward presents you’ve received this Xmas but keeping it for someone’s birthday next month.
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- Slaughtered buffalo.
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- Meat being cut on a high platform, according to tradition. See the flies?
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- Children playing with the buffalo carcass.
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- Children playing with the buffalo carcass.
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- Guts.
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- Charred pig.
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- Charred pig.
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- Charred pig.
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- I believe the pig’s skin is charred to burn off the hair, as the meat is still raw.
Seeing and experiencing the Toraja funeral here has been something I had wanted to do for years. It has finally happened. It was colourful with people and their costumes, yet gory with the slaughtered animals. While Torajans are Christians, there is a strong element of tradition in the funerals.
At the end of the several days of ceremony, the bodies will be taken for burial at a cliff face, rock hole (natural or artificial), in the ground or in small concrete building.
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- Colourful costumes worn by possibly the grandchildren of the deceased.
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- Colourful costumes worn by possibly the grandchildren of the deceased.
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- Colourful costumes worn by possibly the grandchildren of the deceased.
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- Colourful costumes worn by possibly the grandchildren of the deceased.
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- Scenery leaving the village.
Hanging graves at Kete Kesu
After lunch, we were taken to the cave graves at Kete Kesu to understand the final resting place of the deceased. The village at Kete Kesu also proved to be gorgeous with their traditional homes set in two rows.
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- Lunch: Manok Papiong (chicken in bamboo), Babi Pamarasan (pork in black keluak nut sauce), vegetables and brown rice.
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- Scenery walking to Kete Kesu village.
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- Scenery walking to Kete Kesu village.
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- Kete Kesu village.
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- Kete Kesu village.
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- Kete Kesu village.
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- Kete Kesu village.
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- Kete Kesu village.
Near the village was the final resting place of many. We learnt that each coffin may contain a whole family’s remains. As the remains shrivel and compact, they are tidied up to allow another family member to be put in.
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- The coffins may contain a whole family … the remains shrivel and compact and may be tidied to put in another family member eventually.
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- The coffins may contain a whole family … the remains shrivel and compact and may be tidied to put in another family member eventually.
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- Hanging graves … the coffins are suspended on cliff faces by a couple of short beams.
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- The coffins may contain a whole family … the remains shrivel and compact and may be tidied to put in another family member eventually.
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- Hanging graves … the coffins are suspended on cliff faces by a couple of short beams.
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- Th coffins may contain a whole family … the remains shrivel and compact and may be tidied to put in another family member eventually.
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- Descending from the hill with hanging graves.
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- Tautau (statues) for graves.
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- Locals in their costumes.
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- Buffalo in the rice field.
More about buffaloes
By the way, more about buffaloes:
- Buffaloes are no longer used for ploughing the ricefields … they have been replaced by mechanised handheld tractors. So buffaloes have a pretty good life as ceremonial gifts … until they get sacrificed.
- However, since cockfighting has been outlawed, buffaloes are increasingly used for fighting. Fighting buffaloes get fed Guiness Stout and egg yolks! Lallang grass also makes them more aggressive.
- While buffaloes are highly prized, Torajans do not use male buffaloes as studs … they quite happily allow mating as community favours. In contrast, male stud pigs are offered on a commercial basis.