About Toraja

The newest version featuring Torajanese and their rites. More are in the works.

Tana toraja opens up a breath-taking new world. The rugged mountains and verdant valleys are home to a people whose love of religious spectacle is equaled only by their hospitality. With majestic panoramas, captivating villages and dramatic ceremonies, Tana Toraja is the undisputed highlight of any journey to Sulawesi, often refered to as the "Land of the Heavenly Kings". The traditional culture of the Torajans rivals any in the archipelago, making this area one of the most popular tourist destinations in Indonesia. Believing that their forefathers descended from heaven in a boat some twenty generations ago, the Torajas have a unique Christian-animist culture. The majority of the people still follow an ancestral cult called "AlukTodolo", which governs all traditional ceremonies. Their ancestor worship includes elaborate death and afterlife ceremonies, which are essentially great feasts.

A strict social hierarchy is followed in the villages, and for an important figure wedding and burial ceremonies can take days to perform. Water buffalo and pigs are sacrificed in numbers appropriate to social rank, and the deceased's remains are placed in a coffin and interred in caves hollowed out in high cliffs. The mouth of the cave is guarded by lifelike statues, called Tau Tau, who look out from a balcony near the burial caves, watching over the families and friends they have left behind.

Tongkonan, the family houses, are built on stilts with the roof rearing up at either end, representing the prows of the first ship to arrive in the area with the Torajan ancestors. The houses all face north, and some say that this is because it was from the north that the ancestors of the Toraja came. Others, however will say that the north (and east) are regarded as the realm of the gods, on the compass of life.

Upgraded roads, an airport and several star-rated hotels have opened the Toraja high-lands to visitors of all interests, budgets and schedules. The essence of the Toraja beliefs and way of life can be experienced without undue effort, as many interesting sites are clustered around the town of Rantepao, easily accessible by road

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A few minutes from Rantepao, artisans art Kete Kesu, a model Toraja settlement, produce bamboo carvings and other traditional handi-crafts. The village itself has several well-maintained Tongkonan houses and rice barns. Visitors unsure about the propriety of tramping around someone's village will be relieved to know that Kete Kesu has been converted into a living museum with the express purpose of displaying Toraja architecture and daily life. Other villages within sight of the roads, often sitting in an emerald sea of ricefields, display the Toraja penchant for baroque architectural adornment.

If the Toraja way of life is interesting, the way of death is fascinating mix of ritual custom and spectacle. For the Toraja, the dead are as much a part of society as the living. At Lemo, cliffs rise precipitously from the ricefields like stonework condominiums.Crypts carved with prodigious manual labor high into the solid rock house the mortal remains of Toraja nobility. Set amongst the crypts, the striking tau-tau, wooden effiies representing the deceased, look impassively on the world below.

At Londa, a network of coffin-filled caves reaches deep into the limestone hills. Visitors expecting a solemn, well-kept grotto are often shocked and disturbed by skeletons tumbling out of wooden coffins, skulls and bones arranged, to Western eyes, according to some gruesome aesthetic. But the Toraja feel that since their ancestor's souls are residing in heaven, ensuring continued fertility in farm and field, it is appropriate that their earthly remains be on display for the pleasure of honored foreign guests.

Ancesstor Belief

According to the myth "Aluk Todolo" or "Alukta", (Marrang 1974), "Aluk" begins in the sky between "Puang Matua" (God) and "Dewa-Dewa" (Gods). All live in heaven is unseparated from the ritual "Aluk". From heaven "Aluk" was brought to the world by man "Puang Buralangi" with "Puang Pakulando", "Buralangi's slave, carried "Aluk Sanda Pitunna" know as aluk 7777.

Aluk 7777 is also called "Aluk Simuane Tallang Silau' Eran", which means Aluk in pairs: Thanksgiving and Death Ritual which composite religius ritual and become the sources of norm, regulation, moral, etiquette, in whole life of Torajanese.

The Torajanese believe that Aluk is similar to religion and even contains vast and profound meaning. In Torajanese-Indonesian dictionary, Aluk means religion, worship God and Gods, Adat ceremony, religious ceremony, taboo and etiquette.

Ritual 7777 consists of "Rambu Tuka' (Thanksgiving) and Rambu Solo' (Death ceremony). Thanksgiving or Aluk Patuoan (life) or Aluk Rampe Matallo. Thanksgiving ceremony in the East, is directed to God, Gods, To Membali Puang (The Ancesstor's God). Rambu Tuka' is done in the morning until noon in the East and the North of the Tongkonan, Traditional House. The offering in the thanksgiving is cooked in a piece of bamboo. The ceremony can be very simple, moderate and luxury.
Death ritual or Rambu Solo' is done in the west of the Tongkonan. This kind of ceremony is meant for soul of the dead. This ceremony is done in the afternoon in the west or south part of the tongkonan.
The implementation of Rambu Tuka' and Rambu Solo'`is treated in that way because the Torajanese compare the process of life (born,live,die) according to the process of the sun's orbit. That the sun rises in the East and sets in the west, so does the life of man begins from birth symbolized in the east and end's in death symbolized in the west. The implementation of death ceremony is commenced at the sunset.

Toraja Funeral :

The feasts are scheduled in advance because they are outrageously expensive. Families often work for months and even years to set aside enough resources to send their kin off in a manner consistent with their earth-bound status, thereby impressing the gods with their importance. The feasts are held throughout the year, but August through October is harvest time, and the additional wealth funds more funerals. September is the peak month.

The funerals, which last about a week, are organized by a "funeral director" called a tomadalu. Since these are festive rather than somber occassions, visitors are usually welcome, especially if gifts of soap, clove cigarettes, or food are brought to assist the family. The ritual begins with dances and chants. Buffaloes and pigs slaughtered and food and palm wine (tuak) are offered, as the corpse is moved to face north, now officially dead. Relatives wear black as the body is placed in a wooden coffin shaped like a house, and work begins on a life-sized wooden effigy (tau-tau) of the deceased. A funeral tower (lakkian) is constructed, and the body is brought out in a colorful death shroud, as more pigs and buffaloes are slaughtered.

The corpse and guests arrive at the village's ceremonial field, which is decorated with beautiful banners surrounding the funeral tower. After the body has been installed in the tower, relatives and villagers cavort late into the night, dancing, singing, and eating great quantities of food. As the departed presides from his or her elevated abode, the pageant continues with kick-boxing (sisemba), cock fights, buffalo fights, and sometimes reenactments of the deceased's life-story. The next day dances, such as the makatia and maranding, are performed, to remind everyone of their friend or relative's generosity and heroism.

Many more sights made the rest of the day a fascinating glimpse into the Torajan way of life. Every half an hour the people from another village would arrive, bearing gifts of pigs and buffalo, cigarettes and food, parading themselves and their gifts round the arena, stepping lightly round headless carcasses and piles of excrement. A woman clad in a bright yellow dress guided the villagers, men first and then women, in a line round the edge of the arena, making sure that the details of every gift were noted down in a little book, so that every gift would be reciprocated at the next funeral; in this way a vague balance of payments is kept between villages, helping to prevent too much of an imbalance.

Employing intricate cycles of ritual observance punctuated with marvelous pageantry and even bloody spectacle, the Toraja devote much time and effort to the care of their ancestors. The Toraja believe their forebears reside in heaven and participate directly in the welfare of the material world through their blessings. To conduct the souls of the deceased safely into the next world, the Toraja mount elaborate ceremonies which also serve to solidify bonds of mutual obligation among the traditionally suspicious clan groups.

For visitors, this is a magnificent show, as the ever hospitable Toraja will make arrangements to accommodate everyone who attends the ceremonies. Even a young backpacker stumbling into a Torajan funeral is offered a space in the temporary shelters erected for the occasion. The shelter set aside for tourists is generally in a good location, behind the closest relatives and community leaders, of course, but often far closer to the action than shelters reserved for distant or impoverished relations. A well-behaved foreigner is considered an honored guest,  whose arrival from a far adds cosmopolitan element to the festive occasion.

Finally, a massive sacrifice of water buffaloes takes place. The souls of these animals---the Tonatoraja symbols of wealth and power---will acompany their masters into the next life. If an important community member is being bid farewell, dozens of the beasts will be killed, each with a single sword-stroke to the neck. Family members collect the blood in containers to be cooked with the meat, and what can't be eaten at the feast is distributed among guests. There's great excitement as the coffin is brought from the ceremonial field to the graveyard. Long streamers are unwrapped and with a great deal of yelling the coffin is run up to the cliff-side which serves as the high-rise Torajan graveyard. The coffin is hoisted up the cliff and interred in a hollowed-out section, then the effigy is set on a "balcony" alongside the other family members. Reunited in death, they stand behind the railing, gazing out over their homeland of terraced slopes and lush valleys, and the friends and family they left behind.

Toraja Buffalo

To many people in most part of Indonesia archipelago, gold is regarded as a guaranteed standard of wealth, but it does not apply in Toraja Land. The Toraja people treasure TEDONG or water buffalo are given special care by their owners and some even spoil them. TORAJA farmers rarely use their buffalo in plowing rice fields as in usually the practice in other parts of Indonesia. The leave their TEDONG leisurely grazing while the owners till the rice-fields with hoes and the sweat of their brow. The TEDONG is given a daily bath and fed with nutritious fodder.

The TORAJAS recognize five different species with balck or grey specks on their white skin aare the most expensive. Each head costs rupiah  6 million or the equvalent of 20 ordinary buffalo. The BONGA, with specks from the nape of his neck to the head, are equivalent in price to 16 or 18 buffalo.TODI, with specks only on the forehead, costs about the same as 15 ordinary buffalo. The PUDU species or black ones cost 13 ordinary buffalo each, while the grey-skinned buffalo are detined to be slaughtered for traditional feasts or PELIANGAN.

Among the noble families, hundreds of buffalo are slain during a feast, which lasts for several weeks, even among the common people, the number of buffalo slain numbers no less than 25 heads. It is estimated that at least 60.000 buffalo are slain each year in Tana TORAJA.

A wooden sculpture in the form of a buffalo head with a real  horn decorates the main post of a Toraja house, an expression of appreciation among Toraja People for the TEDONG, symbol of their wealth and prosperity.

Who Did This?

THIS IS A PROJECT of the Youth Torajans community in Jakarta and South Sulawesi

We would like to express our gratitude for those who helped us doing this web and special thanks for some others that have contributed their thought, article in which part of their articels may appear on this site. Here is the list of the names:

• Death Ritual Of Torajanese (thanks to Marrang)
• Thanks to Wila Lande and his family
• Thanks to My wife, Ria tonapa and My son, Enrique
• Others

Time to Get Goin'

IF YOU ARE READY, go visit it.

h a p p y   t r a v e l l i n g

And have fun.