Tana Toraja
The land of the Toraja people, many notionally Christian but most in practice animist, is above all famed for their spectacular (and rather gruesome) burial rites. After a person's death, the body is kept — often for several years — while money is saved to pay for the actual funeral ceremony, known as tomate. During the festival, which may last up to a week, ritual dances and buffalo fights are held, and buffaloes and pigs are slaughtered to ferry the soul of the deceased to the afterlife (puya). The deceased is then finally buried either in a small cave, often with a tau-tau effigy placed in front, inside a hollow tree or even left exposed to the elements in a bamboo frame hanging from a cliff.
Okay, get seat guys! this will gonna be long and exciting!!
Tana Toraja is located on the Sulawesi island, 300 km north of Makassar, the provincial capital of South Sulawesi. Its geographical location is between latitude of 2°-3° South and longitude 119°-120° East (center: 3° S 120° E). The total area is 3.205,77 km², about 5% of the South Sulawesi province. The topography of Tana Toraja is mountainous. The minimum elevation is 150 m, while the maximum is 3,083 above the sea level. Very good mountains air, fresh and its green everywhere~
Whats interisting about Toraja...? Tons!!!
There are couples things that Tanah Toraja, located high in the hills of Sulawesi, is known for:
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Its elaborate funeral rituals. All of the resources of the community go into preparation for funerals, which is why the culture is nicknamed "The Culture That Lives to Die." At funeral celebrations, we've seen several hundred water buffalo slaughtered, not to mention two or three times that many pigs, so that the village grounds ran with blood.
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Its burial customs. After an adult dies, his body is often kept in in his house for a year or more, embalmed, sewn into a red funeral casing, and conspicuously positioned. Adults are subsequently "buried" in cliffside caves, guarded by effigies of themselves. Infants are sewn into the hollow trunks of trees.
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Its architecture. Its houses are shaped rather like overturned boats and decorated with intricate geometric carvings.
Architecture-Tongkonan:
- Tongkonan: Torajan Kindred Houses -
The most striking feature, perhaps, of Toraja is its houses. As you fly over Toraja, coming in via the South, you will see the small villages scattered in between the mountains covered with bamboo and veiled in mist. Most houses have the typical boat-shaped roofs, which, nowadays, are predominantly made of iron.
The roofs used to be made of bamboo and other natural materials. The making of such a house was very laborious. The houses that you will see in villages such as Ke'te' Kesu' (near Rantepao) are the so-called tongkonan (from the Toraja word tongkon, which means 'to sit down'). These kindred houses are used for family purposes, and the construction involves the entire family clan.
Here, some photo of Ke'te Kesu'
According to myth, the first Toraja house was constructed in heaven by Puang Matua, the Creator (see: Religion). It was built on four poles, and the roof was made of Indian cloth. Next, Puang Matua ordered the construction of another house, on iron poles and a bamboo roof. When the ancestor of mankind descended to earth in the southern half of Toraja (in the area bordering the Regency of Enrekang), he imitated the heavenly house, and a big house ceremony was held for the occasion.
The former village founder of Toraja, an important figure in Toraja, was called Tangdilino'. Near Mengkendek (southern Toraja), a house was built that had a roof with its two ends bending upwards. This particular form is explained in various ways. The first story stresses resemblance to a boat - since, according to myth, the ancestors of the Toraja people came by boat from the Mekong Delta in South China - the second story claims that the arch-shaped roof looks like the sky. This is, indeed, reflected in some prayers by the ancient animistic belief Aluk Todolo.
Historically, only the nobility has the right to build these elaborate and beautifully carved tongkonan. The most important noble houses were the seats of political power for local rulers who dominated small groups of villages. Each of these families has a long past, full of myths, mystery, and ancestral achievement. All noble families, of course, have a significant history to justify their claim to wealth and status, whereas most ordinary people live in undecorated houses - mostly bamboo shacks - called banua. Sometimes the status associated with a tongkonan and the people who are allowed to inhabit these houses, varies according to the different areas within Toraja itself.
Three different types of tongkonans can be distinguished. The first is called tongkonan layuk, which belongs to the highest adat authorities. This type of tongkonan used to be the centre of government - a position that even today seems to be respected. The second kind is the tongkonan pekamberan, which belongs to the family clan and group members surrounding the adat functionaries. The third kind is called the tongkonan batu, and belongs to the ordinary people (i.e. not adat functionaries).
The style of the tongkonans has changed slightly over time. The oldest surviving structures are generally small, with only a small curve to the roof. As the house came to embody aristocratic ambitions, it was gradually built higher and the curve of the extended eaves has become more and more exaggerated. As a consequence, the living space inside the tongkonan was reduced due to increased prestige and status, as the exterior of the house grew to be more colourful and exuberant in appearance.
House Decorations
Want to know what's the meaning of that collections of Buffalo's *kerbau* horn...? Toraja people believe that more horn could bring fortune and its their sign of richness.
Funeral Ritual
Funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful an individual, the more expensive his or her funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. Often the death feast and burial are held, weeks, months or years after the actual death, because the deceased family has to raise significant funds to cover the funeral expenses.
Death and Afterlife. The funeral is the most critical lifecycle event, as it allows the deceased to leave the world of the living and proceed to Puya. Funeral ceremonies vary in length and complexity, depending on one's wealth and status. Each funeral is carried out in two parts: the first ceremony (dipalambi'i) occurs just after death in the tongkonan house. The second and larger ceremony may occur months or even years after the death, depending on how much time the family needs to amass its resources to cover the expenses of the ritual. If the deceased was of high status, the second ritual may last more than seven days, draw thousands of guests, and entail the slaughter of dozens of water buffalo and pigs, buffalo fights, kick fights, chanting, and dancing.
Living Dead Souls
There are three methods of burial of a Torajan people. The coffin, including any possessions which will be needed in the afterlife, will be either put in a cave grave, a stone grave, or hung on a cliff. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave, carved out of the rocky cliff, which usually costs a lot of money and takes some months to complete. In some places, the stone cave is enough to accommodate the whole family. A wooden carved effigy, called tau tau, is usually put in the cave and faced down over the land. Unfortunately, these tau tau have been targeted by grave robbers for antique collectors. In several occasions, a stolen tau tau effigy of Toraja appeared in an exhibition show, for instances, at the Brooklyn Museum in 1981 and at the Arnold Herstand Gallery in New York in 1984
-to be continued
Ready to see what's inside...?
Toraja's Clothes,Dances
This dance is performed by pretty girls wearing black or dark clothes and, of course, the typical Toraja ornaments such as the kandaure. Ma’ pangngan is danced when receiving distinguished guests who are welcomed with the words:
Pangngan mo tanda mali’ki
Kisorong sorong mati’
Solonna pengkaboro’ki’
Rittingayona mala’bi’ta’
Inde’mo sorongan sepu’
Rande pela’i toda
Kiala tanda mala’bi’
Ki po rannu matoto’
These words and the offering of sirih indicate the value placed upon the visit and confirms that the guests have been accepted in and are now considered part of the Toraja society. This offering is symbolically expressed by the dancers each holding a betel (pangngan) which, in the course of the dance, is placed in the pouches in front of them. Such pouches are worn by most elderly women in the villages and contain the ingredients for the pinang sirih betel chewing mixture, a mild narcotic that stains their teeth and lips an orangey-red. It resembles chewing tobacco and that's probably the reason why the translated name of the dance is Tobacco Dance.
Language
The ethnic Torajan language is dominant in Tana Toraja, although the national Indonesian language is spoken in the community.All elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Torajan language. Denominations of the language include Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan. All of them belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family
Wanna hear some Toraja songs...? Click here
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Compiled from various source.
Good job theLost_chnBoy! 
Seeing that u r from South Sulawesi, have u ever visited Tana Toraja yourself?
. I just love their house, tongkonan. I hear that it is shaped as boats to remind them that they came from a faraway place to their current home in South Sulawesi (it could be present Southern China or Taiwan, depending on which theory).
aiyaaa
It's Batang, I mean Betong isn't it?
. If a Torajan died outside his (never heard this applies to women) land and it's necessary to be buried at home, there's a way for a fellow Torajan to get him (i.e. the dead) up and walk all the way home. His fellow (living) Torajan should accompany him in the journey, but he (the living one) cannot talk to anyone (of course the dead cannot talk either