toraja culture in indonesia

Tana Toraja is situated in high mountains in Sulawesi island of Indonesia Where peoples lived with the dead bodies of their relatives . In Toraja culture in Indonesia , funeral and the relation with the dead body is most important . After a person died , his/her cadaver is kept in the home and offered food and drink as people think that he/she is just sick(but not died) and the spirit lives with them until Rombo Solo festival . In previous time this bodies were preserved by natural process but now a days it is done by the mixture of formaline . Mostly after one year, in a bloody “Romobo solo” festival funeral is done and his/her mummified bodies were kept in the Graveyard This is just not the end , After that in every 1-3 years in “Manane” festival people exhume the cadaver and clean it . Here people spent more money than any other festival in Toraja .

How to reach toraja ?

Rantepao and Makale are two most famous tourist spot to see , toraja culture in indonesia . Toraja is situated high in the mountain in a remote landscape . It can be reached only by Air and road .

Toraja Airport in Mengkendek is 20 km from Makale , Capital of tana toraja regency . Very less airlines operates from here and the flights were very infrequent . Frequent cancellation of flights makes the air travel unreliable .

Better option to come here is by bus . Bus leaves from Daya terminal in Makassar towards Makale and Rantepao . Seats are extremely comfortable and there are lots of buses in this route . Leg space is extremely good . The distance is 315 km from makassar and takes more than 9 hours to reach there .

What are the belief regarding death in Toraja ?

When a people died in the toraja culture in Indonesia , First , solution of Formaldenyde was injected to the deadbody to conserve his/her body . Previously it was done by the help of different herbals but now a days this is the process .

After this , their bodies were kept in the home in a special room inside the coffin. Toraja people belived , the deceased person is just sick (“Makule”) and offered food and drink to them . They also thought the spirit lives with them and protects them .

Normally the body was kept there for 1 year . In this time they collected money for the funeral of the deceased people . In toraja culture , funeral is the most expensive event in a person’s life and lots of animals were slaughtered in this event . For some family this deadbody is kept in Home for years as they unable to collect money for funeral within a year .

In a single Rombo solo (funeral) , sometimes miliions or billion IDR were spend . As this festival is very important to the well being of the spirits journey toward Puya(Heaven) .

When they have enough money they will organize the event Rombo solo . In this event they will slaughter lots of buffalo and pigs and organished a feast among the villagers and relatives . This festivals goes on through several days and finally they put the deadbody inside coffin and put it in graveyard . This is the end of this rombo solo festival . They believed that after this the deceased people’s spirit goes to Puya (Heaven).

Death Rituals are one of the most unique toraja culture in indonesia . Now in tana toraja most of the people are Christian but before that , there was a animist religion called “Aluk to dolo” .Now very less poople follow this religion .

Indonesian government recognized this religion as a part of Balinese Hinduism but it is a unique animist belief and having unique cultural belief . Previously , In this religion there are mainly two unique rituals birth ritual and death ritual . After Christinity has been practiced here birth Rituals has been discontinued but the death rituals still continues .

Next festival or rituals in their society is “Manane” . Accordingly to the family condition they perform Manane in every 1-3 years . Actually this festival is done in the month of August when the weather is dry . In this month they bring out the deadbody from the graveyard and clean it and dried in the sun . After that the mommy were dressed in a new cloths and taken photographed with their relatives . This time , the area has become full of tourists , to see this festival .

After that this cadavers were put inside the coffin and replace in the Graveyard . In this way relation reached to eternity after the death .

What are the caste system in toraja ?

In Tana toraja society was devided into four parts . This castes are

1 . Tana Bulaan or Nobel :- This people have high moral and privileged values in the society . Those people never divorced their spouse and if they do so then they have to give 24 buffalos as compensatation . In the time of Funeral they must slaughter at least 12 buffalo . They are believed to be the direct decedent of the heaven people and lived in the “Tongkonan”.

2. Tana Bassi :- Their social status is lower than the Nobel and in the case of divorce they have to give at least 10 buffalo to their spouses . They have to slaughter less buffalo and pigs than nobel person .

3. Tana Karurung or the common people: – This people enjoys lower social status than Tana Bassi but have better social status than slave people . They have to give 2 buffalos to their partner if they divorce their spouses . They are also part of the Rombo solo festival .

4 . Slave :- Slave are the lowest in the social heirerchy . They are not allowed to take part in the Rombo solo festival . In previous times in this area there was plenty of slave trade . They are also not allowed to live under the “Tongkonan” House . Their special type of house is “Banua”. In the time of Dutch in the year 1909 slavery was abolished .

Different festival in Tana Toraja ?

They have mainly five types of festival . This festivals are

1. Ma Tinggoro Tedong : This is the festival of the Buffalo slaughter . This is also a part of the Rombo Solo Festival .
2. Tegong Silaga :- This is actually the buffalo slaughter . In this festival in a open field two buffalos were bring to fight . With the rule they were fight until one buffalo was dead . But actually this thing really not happened as the defeated buffalo will run away from the field .
3. Sisemba : This is actually organized during the time of Harvest time . This is organized in the field where one person kicked another . This is the end of the festival .
4. Rombo Solo : this is the funeral festival of the toraja people . This is the costliest festival in the toraja society and sometimes cost billion indonesian rupiya or 100000 USD . Mostly they got that much of money from the gold mining in Papua . They spent most money in the death festival than any other festival in Toraja .
5. Manane : This is the festival when the the deadbodies were taken out from the Graveyard and cleaned . In this time relatives of the deceased people take photo with the deadbody and wore new cloths to the cavader . This manane is done every 1/2/3 years according to the families status and thought this will bring good fortune in farming .

How mommy were made in Tana Toraja ?

From the local myth there was a people named “Pong Rumasek ” . One day he gone to forest for hunting and see a unattained dead body . When He come back He brought the deadbody and then dressed that cadaver nicely and keep in his home . He believed that from that time he had good fortune in the Farming . Most of the people thought that from that time this mommy culture have spread here in Toraja .

In earlier days they preserve the deadbody by the help of the herbals found in the forest of Toraja . Now a days Formaldenyde was inserted into the deadbody to preserve the deadbody .

Different types of Houses in Toraja ?

Traditional houses in toraja is called the “Tongkonan”. They believed that this house was first build in Heaven with the four poles and the roof was made by the Indian Silk . The saddle structure above the building is the symbol of the heaven .

There is mainly three types of Tongkonan in Toraja

1. Tongkonan Layuk
2. Tongkonan Pekamberan
3. Tongkonan Batu

Tau Tau statue :

You can see lots of Tau Tau statue just before the Graveyard . This are the life size statue of the deceased person made from the local wood . This are just not the exact replica of the deceased person rather the artists imagination and representation of the deceased person’s character . They belived that this statues were the guard of those graveyard . Mostly the rich people make this wooden statue and keep before their tomb to remind people .

Graveyard in Tana Toraja :

They have very different types of Graveyard inside Tana Toraja . Among this Hanging graveyard in Londa and the Stone graveyard in Lemo are most famous.

Ancient Graveyard in Lemo :

In this graveyard you can see the mountains were curved in a cuboid shape and make this graveyard . In the front of the mountain wall you can see lots of square shape hole . They put the coffin inside this and closed the wooden door . In the time of manane they remove the coffin from here and starts the process of cleaning .

In front of this graveyard you can see lots of life size wooden statue . This statues were called the Tau Tau statue . They believed tau – taus are the guard of this Graveyard .

Lemo is situated almost in the middle point between the cities of Makale and Rantepao . From the main road this graveyard is just 1 km and situated inside rice field .

Ticket Price : 20000 IDR per person .

Stone Graveyard in Londa :

Londa is an Ancient Graveyard where coffins were put inside the cliffs or in the cave or hanging from the roof . This is just the entrance of the cave where lots of coffins were placed in height . They mostly kept on a high rack . In front of this cave you can also seen Tau Tau statues . Inside the cave there is corpses of human body .

Animals slaughter in the Ceremony :

Buffalo and the Pigs are the main animal which were slaughtered in this Festival . When the funeral is done for the Nobel person minimum of 12 Buffalo’s were slaughtered . In the toraja culture the killing of the animal have to be done in just one shot . Mostly in the festivals sometimes they slaughter upto 45 animals . This festivals were running for atleast 12 days . Actually I was in a rombo solo in silanan where it was a royal ceremony . The pandels were very big and colorful .

Dance :

In this festival there was some special dance where group of people were dancing and they sing some folk song and they make some round circle and speed up the pace of the song constantly . People may join the dance in middle . AS this festival is the festival of dead so they were Black dress . In this time they wore their best jewellery to garland them .

Summary:-

Toraja is a unique tradition where death and funeral were celebrated more joyfully than any other festival in the world . After a person dies first they put some preservatives to that deadbody and keep in the home until they finished the funeral . In the process of funeral they slaughter lots of buffalos and pigs and after the funeral is over they put the dead bodies in the grave . This Rombo solo festival runs for several days and some traditional dance and singing was done there . After Rombo solo in every 3 year they bring out the dead body from the graveyard and clean it . This festival is called “Manane”. In toraja culture in indonesia their major festivals were centered around the death .