the torajans funeral ceremony

7/24/2019 The Torajans Funeral Ceremony

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The Torajans Funeral Ceremony

The Tana Toraja is a regency of South Sulawesi in Indonesia, a picturesque mountainous region

that is home to an indigenous group known as the Torajans. For the Toraja people, life very

much revolves around death, ut not in a morid sense. For them, a funeral is a great celeration

of life, much like a going!away party, and is an occasion in which the entire family of the

deceased, and all the memers the village take part. Their ancient traditions involve funerary

customs that have een practiced over many centuries and are known to e the most comple"

funeral traditions in the world.

The population of the Toraja is appro"imately #$%,%%%, of which &$%,%%% still live in the regency

of Tana Toraja '()and of Toraja*+. ost are Christian, others are uslim, and a minority still

retain the local eliefs known as -luk Todolo '(ay of the -ncestors*+, which are most visile

during funeral festivities and urial customs.

/efore the 0%th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism,

the worldview that non!human entities, including animals, plants, and often even inanimate

ojects or phenomena possess a spiritual essence. They were relatively untouched y the outside

world until 1utch missionaries arrived to convert the Torajan highlanders to Christianity.

2evertheless, even those that follow other religions in Tana Toraja, still converge when it comes

to ancient funeral customs.

1uring their lives, the Tarajans work e"tremely hard to accumulate wealth. /ut unlike other

societies, the Tarajans do not save their money to give themselves a good life, rather they save

for a good send off in death. In fact, it is the e"travagance of the funeral, not the wedding,

which marks a family3s status.

Funeral ceremonies are incredily important to the Tarajans and are often held weeks, months, or

even years after the death of a person to give the family of the deceased time to raise enough

money for e"penses 4 a ody is not uried until the funds have een raised. any people go

deeply into det in order to hold a funeral ceremony and it is not uncommon for a young man,

afraid of eing urdened y det, to postpone or cancel his marriage if a grandparent of the girl

he loves is old enough to die soon. The funerals are raucous affairs involving the whole village

and traditionally last for days or even weeks. Specifically, a funeral reinforces the eternal ond

etween the living and the dead.

Unique Funerary Customs

hen a Torajan dies, family memers of the deceased are required to hold a series of funeral

ceremonies, known as 5amu Soloq, over many days. 1uring this time, the deceased is not

uried ut is emalmed and stored in a traditional house under the same roof with his or her

family. 6ntil the funeral ceremonies are completed, the person is not considered to e truly dead

ut merely suffering an illness. The dead relative is referred to simple as (a person who is sick*



or (the one who is asleep*. 5emarkaly, this could even last several years after death, depending

on how long it takes the family to raise money. 1uring this time, the deceased family memer is

symolically fed, cared for and taken out, and is very much a part of their relative3s lives.

Their ceremony egins when funeral visitors attend a uffalo!slaughtering field. Family

memers are required to slaughter uffaloes and pigs as they elieve that the spirit of thedeceased will live peacefully thereafter, continuing to herd the uffaloes that have come to join

him or her. /efore eing sacrificed according to a strictly defined procedure, the animals take

part in trials of strength known as tedong silaga.

-fter the sacrifice, the meat is distriuted to the funeral visitors in accordance with visitors7

positions in the community, and the spirit of the deceased is also entitled to a portion of meat,

known locally as -luk Todolo. The heads of the uffaloes are returned to what is locally known

as puya 'a site for the soul or spirit of the dead person+ and their horns placed in front of the

house of the kin. The more horns that decorate the front of the house, the higher the status of the

deceased.The ody is not uried until the eleventh day of the ceremony, although they are not technically

uried 4 the final resting place is in a cave up on the cliff. The soul of the deceased is thought to

linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it egins its

journey to the land of souls.

- wood!carved effigy called tau tau, carved with the likeness of the dead person is then placed in

the alcony of the tom to represent the dead and watch over their remains. 6nfortunately, so

many tau tau effigies have een stolen to e sold to tourists that people have started to keep them

in their homes.



In one region, known as 8e3te3 kesu3, the dead are not placed in cliff!dug graves, ut in wooden

caskets hanging from the side of cliffs. The coffins are eautifully decorated with geometrical

shapes, ut over time the wood egins to rot and the leached ones of the deceased often

ecome e"posed.

The smallest of the Toraja urial grounds are the (/ay Trees* where the trie3s young are

placed. If a child dies efore he has started teething, the ay is wrapped in cloth and placed

inside a hollowed out space within the trunk of a growing tree, and covered over with a palm

fire door. The elief is that as the tree egins to heal, the child3s essence will ecome part of thetree. 1o9ens of aies may e interred within a single tree



:very year in -ugust, a ritual called a32ene 'The Ceremony of Cleaning Corpses+ takes place

in which the odies of the deceased are e"humed to e washed, groomed and dressed in new

clothes. 1amaged o"es are fi"ed or replaced. The mummies are then walked around the village

y following a path of straight lines. Following these straight lines is maye the most important

part of the ceremony. -ccording to the myth, these lines are connected with ;yang, a spiritualentity with supernatural power. -s this entity only move in straight lines, the soul of the deceased

ody must follow the path of ;yang.

-ccording to the ancient Torajan elief system, the spirit of a dead person must return to his

village of origin. So if a person died on a journey, the family would go to the place of death and

accompany the deceased ack home y walking them ack to the village. In the past, people

were frightened to journey far, in case they died while they were away and were unale to return

to their village.



Toraja Beliefs

In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which

were then used y the Torajans as a communication medium with <uang atua, the Creator. The

cosmos, is divided into the upper world 'heaven+, the world of man 'earth+, and the underworld.

-t first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally thelight. The Torajans traditionally elieve that death is not a sudden, arupt event, ut a gradual

process toward <uya 'the land of souls, or afterlife+.

The -luk Todolo elief system still very much governs the life of the society, demonstrated y

Toraja cosmology, ceremonies, settlement arrangement, houses, decorations, the role of water

uffalo, and of course, the funerary customs. -ccording to 62:SC=, the Torajan cosmology

represents an ancient cosmology common to pre!state Southeast -sian communities which is

now vanishing.

Tourism in Tana Toraja

Tana Toraja is now the second most popular destination for tourists in Indonesia after /ali.;owever, tourism in Tana Toraja is very much a doule!edge sword. The influ" of foreign

visitors oosts the economy of the local region and >motivates3 the local people to keep their

ancient customs alive, partly for the enefit of visitors and partly for their own enefit. These

traditions may have otherwise ecome lost due to the influence of outside forces over the years.

-ccording to 62:SC=, their heritage has an (indispensale scientific value as a source of

analogy to study the past* and (the cultural landscape created ased on local wisdoms may ring

awareness on the nature!culture relation*. /ut tourism has not een without its cost. 1evelopers

have een known to e"ploit the local people and many of their sacred relics, like the tau tau, have

een ought or stolen y tourists.

2evertheless, the Torajan heritage has een handed down from generation to generation for at

least ?%% years, ut proaly as far ack as prehistoric times, and it is still very much a >living

culture3. It survived invasions from the /uginese in the seventeenth century, and the influ" of

1utch missionaries in the early 0%th century, and it still endures today. -ccording to 62:SC=,

the importance of preserving the Torajan traditions lies in the fact that (such complicated and

e"pensive ceremonies sustain many aspects of prehistoric megalithic culture which cannot e

found in any other part of the world today.*



The Buffalo Sacrifice

It is interesting to reflect on the significance of funerals in this traditional society. In many ways,

perhaps in most ways, people of traditional society seem closer to te processes of life and death

than those of their modern relatives. Thus, while they treat irth with unrestrained joy, they are

not afraid to face death, either. In the world view of Torajans, death is not regarded as the

opposite of life. 5ather, irth and death are regarded as major mile stones within a person7s life.

-mongst the people of Tana Toraja, this world view forms the asis of the -lluk Todolo

tradition. It is this tradition which is the inspiration for the long, joyful funeral celerations

characteristic of these people.

- funeral here is not an occasion for sorrow. 5ather, it is a celeration in which the entire family

of the deceased, and all the memers of his village, take part. specifically, a funeral reinforces the

eternal ond etween the living and the dead of a single family. In the society of Tana Toraja, it is

the funeral, not the wedding, which marks a family7s status. In Tana Toraja, the funeral ceremonyis known as 5amu Soloq. The most important part of this ceremony involves the sacrifice of

uffalo. These animals die in order to accompanying the spirit of their master on his journey to

the land of the dead. /efore eing sacrificed according to a strictly defined procedure, in which

the neck of the o" is cut with a sharp lade and the animal allowed to leed to death, the animals

take part in trials of strength known as tedong silaga. This procedure is known as tinggoro.

hile the sacrifice of the other uffalo is also acceptale, traditional Torajan elief states that

offerings of alino uffalo with a certain type of spotted skin 'tedong onga+ are preferale.

/uffalo with these characteristic markings on their hide are rare, constituting a mere eight

percent of the total population. Therefore, it is not surprising that these animals can command a price etween @$!A% million rupiah, depending on the perceived eauty of the animal. -ttempts

to reed these animals have met with very limited success. :ven if oth parents have the desired

markings, there is no guarantee that the offspring will e similarly lessed. -n attempt in

/andung, est Bava, to reed uffalo that consistently give irth to these animals failed

completely.

The rarity of the animals is compounded y the increasing numer of rich Torajans, all of whom

desire prestigious funerals involving these animals. It is y no means uncommon for more than

A%% animals!a good many of them are spotted alino uffalo!to e sacrificed in a single

ceremony. Considering that the ceremony of a wealthy or high!status person often lasts as long

as eight days and involves more than @$,%%% people, all of whom have to e fed, this numer is

hardly surprising.The funeral is used y the people of Toraja to estalish the status of the

deceased. In the Torajan elief system, people lead their lives in preparation for their death.

1uring their lives, people work hard to accumulate wealth. hen they die, they take this wealth

with them eyond their grave.-ll memers of the deceased family are e"pected to contriute to



the costs of the e"pensive ceremonies. any people go deeply into det in order to hold a funeral

ceremony. It is not uncommon for a young man, afraid of eing urdened y det, to postpone or

cancel his marriage if the grandmother or grandfather of the girl he loves is old enough to die

soon.

To Make a Dead Man Walk

In times past, when the villages of Tana Toraja were still e"tremely isolated and difficult to visit,

it is said that certain people had the power to make a dead man walk to his village in order to e

present at his own funeral. In this way, relatives of the deceased were spared the necessity of

having to carry his corpse. =ne particular area, amasa est Toraja, was particularly well!

known for this practice. The people of this area are not strictly speaking of the same ethnic group

as the people of Tana Toraja. ;owever, outsiders often refer to them as Toraja amasa. In many

ways, the cultures of the two groups are similar, although they each have their own distingushing

characteristics. In particular, the style of wood carving of the two groups is different.

-ccording to the elief system of the people of amasa, the spirit of a dead person must return

to his village of origin. It is essential that he meet with his relatives, so that they can guide him

on his journey into the after!life after the ceremonies have een completed. In the past, people of

this area were frightened to journey far, in case they died while they were away and were unale

to return to their village. If someone died while on a journey, and unless he has a strong magic

power, it would e necessary to procure the services of an e"pert, to guide the dead person ack

to the village.

This is not intended metaphorically!the dead person would e made to walk from wherever hehad journeyed ack home, no matter how far away that was. The corpse would walk stiffly,

without any e"pression on his face, in the manner of a root. If anyone addressed the dead man

directly, he would fall down senseless, unale to continue his journey. Therefore, those

accompanying the deceased on the macare procession had to warn people they met on their path

not to talk directly to the dead man. The attendants usually sought out quiet paths where the

procession was less likely to meet with strangers. These days, the practice of walking the dead

ack to their place of origin has fallen out of currency.

Dood roads now connect the villages of Tana Toraja, and people tend to rely on more

conventional means of transportation for ringing odies ack home. The aility to ring the

dead ack to life has not een entirely forgotten, however. Sometimes, even now, the deceased is

made to continue reathing and seems alive until all his relatives are gathered around him.ore

commonly, the skill is practiced on animals. -t a funeral ceremony, when a uffalo has een

sacrificed and its head separated from its ody, the ody is made to get up and walk for as long

as ten minutes. - demonstration of this sort proves to the audience that the aility to ring the

dead ack to life has not entirely passed from the community.



Cock Fighting

-s part of the funeral ceremony, a tower is uilt in whch to place the ody of the dead relative.

This structure is referred to as a lakkian, and is placed in the position of honor in front of an open

arena. any of the rites associated with the ceremony take place in this arena. The rites included

depend on the social and economic status of the deceased. 2aturally, the higher the status of the

dead person, the more elaorate his funeral will e.

;owever, a cock fight, known as ulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. -s with

the sacrifice of the uffalo and the pigs, the cock fight is considered sacred ecause it involves

the spilling of lood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three

chickens.

;owever, it is common for at least 0$ pairs of chickens to e set against each other in the conte"tof the ceremony. 6sually, the 7e"tra rounds7 are held outside the ceremonial field, for the pleasure

of the participants.In this day and age, the sacred ceremony has degenerated into an e"cuse for

gamling. Fewer and fewer among the audience regard the cock fight as a religious event, and

most take part in the gamling that inevitaly accompanies it. These days, with the advent of

telecommunications, it is not unusual for people to et on cock fights via telephone.

-s a ceremony reaches its clima", the roads leading into even smallest villages can ecome

crowded with vehicles ringing gamlers to the site.In addition to the cock fights and the trials of

strength etween the uffalo, the ceremony also involves a mourning dance known as

ma7adong, in which memers of the family of the deceased hold hands and form a large circle.The dance is accompanied y the recitation of poetry which descries humanity7s journey from

the wom, through irth, life, and finally death.=ddly, the fact that a large numer of the people

of Tana Toraja have emraced Christianity has not prevented them from holding or taking part in

these ceremonies.

Type of Graves of Torajans

hen a person dies, the ody is not directly uried, ut preserved y using formalin 'in the past,

people used certain leaves+. -fter that, the corpse is put on the top of the house. The dead person

is considered to have headache, and people still give himEher food and drink. The dead person is

kept in hisEher house until 0 to $ years, it depends when is hisEher family ale to carry on a

funeral ceremony for himEher.There are several kinds of graves

emo Grave type

The family asks Gto pande atuG 'carving e"pert+ to make a hole 'aout A m long and @ m high+

on stone wall. The corpse is wrapped with sarung 'traditional cloth+ and put inside a coffin, then



the coffin is placed inside the hole. 2oles of Toraja always make Gtau!tauG 'a human!like statue+

for dead people. Tau!tau is made similar as the dead person, including the ody, appearance,

clothes, and necklace. To make a statue, people have to contact Gto minahG 'tradition keeper, a

person respected as an elderly one+. /esides, they also have to check the date 'time+. Tao!tao for

a man wears pants, and the one for a woman wears a long skirt. - person who is skillful in

making tao!tao is called Gto pande tao!taoG. Tau!tau is still an animism elief. Common people

do not make tau!tau, and after 0 ! days the corpse is put into a coffin called GtongkonanG. - single

hole of /atu )emo grave can e put A!$ corpses ecause the si9e of preserved corpses can shrink

to H m. If the hole is already full, then people need to make new a hole which are near the

previous hole.

!rong Grave" Marante

The deceased person is put into a huge coffin which can contain 0!$ corpses. -fter that, the

coffin is placed inside a cave. In arante there can e found many human skulls and ones.

#atane Grave

It is a modern grave of Christian Torajan. The shape of the grave is a house, and it is said as the

second home after a person dies. The house can contain 0%!0$ corpses. The corpses are placed

with their coffins. The grave is also called Ganua tang maramuG 'house which no longer has

smoke+.=ne grave is for one family.

Ma$ nene$ %The Ceremony of Cleaning Corpses&

=nce a year, or once in every $ or ten years Torajan people carry on a special ceremony for

changing the clothes and coffins of the corpses. The cleaning day is a special day agreed ytradition keepers. <eople clan the corpses, change their clothes and the damaged coffins, and the

scattered nes are gathered. The clothes worn y tau!tau 'statues+ are also changed.

the torajans funeral ceremony

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