The Most Toraja Funeral Ceremony

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 blessing. 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.


Villages can swell to many times their normal populations as families stage enormous funerals, often years after the loved one has passed away. In the invariably muddy field and pathways hundreds of chickens and pigs are summarily dispatched. Events range from quiet prayers and solemn processions to stirring hymn singing and exciting battles between water buffaloes, all conducted in a festive atmosphere of clan solidarity and reunion.


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 Toraja 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. Foreigners are considered honored quests, whose arrival from afar adds a cosmopolitan element to the festive occasion.


The ceremonies, which are complicated in nature and last for days, culminate in the dramatic spectacle where water buffaloes and pigs are slaughtered with great ceremony using a machete (called Parang) right in front of everyone's eyes while young boys jostle to catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Many tourists find this utterly disgusting and are coming away feeling a little out of sympathy with this particular set of customs. The more buffaloes sacrificed, the quicker the journey will be, it is thought, to Puya, the Aluk To Dolo afterworld. Buffaloes piebald in color are especially valued for these ceremonies and are accordingly very expensive in the region.

The most well-known ceremonial field in Tana Toraja is the touristy rante in Bori, the most authentic one, however, is  Ranre Tendan in Balusu. Also refer to Rante Rarassik and "The Toraja Monoliths".

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DENDE The mysterious mummy

As you go from Rantepao to Makale, and from there on to the Pongtiku Airport at Rantetayo, you turn right and gradually climb up a road that takes you through a myriad of the most spectacular panor`mic views. Ask the villagers for the village of Dende, and they will direct you. You need good transport for this track, since the road turns into a gravel and stone dirt road after you have progressed a few kilometers from Rantetayo. Especially during the wet monsoon, make sure you take a four-wheel drive jeep or a trail motorcycle and a guide.

The road that leads up to Dende takes you through the glowing hills near Makale and Madandan, which turn into rugged mountain ranges, with steep terraced rice fields and breathtaking views. The vegetation gradually changes from luscious green in the valleys to softer and more modest green in the mountains where mostly pine trees (buangin) and mountainous ferns grow. Nature, as anywhere in Toraja, is abundant and you will have a good chance of spotting some of the many species of raptures common to Toraja, such as the Brahminy Kite or the Crested Serpent Eagle.

In the village of Dende, you ask to see the Village Head (Kepala Desa) and he will show you the mummy which is kept in his house. The mummy (they call her Susan) is said to be over a hundred years old, and the villagers claim it is a child. The head, though, is surprisingly small for the body, and it looks more like a tiny adult rather than a child. It is a neatly dressed human being of about 90 cm whose skin in still intact, with perfect and slightly protruding teeth and somewhat thinned hair. Its bent fingers pop out from under the sleeves and the villagers keep putting coins in its hands as a sign of reverence or hope for good fortune and blessing. The people who gathered around us as we were taking photographs, said that the mummy used to be 10 cm taller and that it used to fit perfectly into its little red 'cradle'.

Everyone wonders about the mummy. Why has it shrunk, and why has it never shown signs of decay? As far as the villagers can recall, it has never given off any smell either. An explanation might be that in the olden days, before the introduction of Christianity, the body of the "sick person" was treated according to animist Aluk To Dolo rules so as to prevent the body from decaying. This practice was continued even after the arrival of the Dutch missionaries, but then it was done by injecting formaline. Nobody we spoke to, however, could confirm either version, and the story of the shrunken mummy remains a mystery.

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Ma' Tundan (Awaken the Soul)

For the Toraja tribe, "Rambu Solo" is a ceremony to bury our beloved ancestors or parents.Ancestral tradition is both a kinship adhesive Toraja people of their ancestral homeland.
One night in Tanah Toraja highlands. At that time, more late nights when the moon emits its light reflection. Around the yard or custom homes Tongkonan Tana Toraja seen their relatives and families gathered marked the start of the opening of the Toraja traditional burial rites. The atmosphere had become sacred when they sang together in a dance poem Ma'badong grief. This dance symbolizes the wailing of grief to remember the late service during his lifetime as well as an expression of sorrow for those left behind.
Tana Toraja in South Sulawesi is a beautiful area. This district is dominated plateau.Expanse of mountains and hills, even as a silent witness to the origins of human life there. At the foot of the mountains Kandora, for example, a variety of stories and legends accompany the emergence of Toraja society.
Syahdan about 15 centuries ago, a bunch of immigrants from the Gulf Tongkin, mainland China, anchored in the mountains of western South Sulawesi. Chinese immigrants are finally chose to stay and mingle with the natives in the interior.Acculturation or cultural mixture is then often called Toraja culture.
Not surprisingly, when in Tana Toraja, many found the house that resembles a Chinese boat called Tongkonan. This custom home is equipped with a barn to store the rice as well as a symbol of greatness and welfare of the people Toraja.
Status of the Toraja nobility is easily recognizable, especially when they perform the ritual burial of the dead. Unlike the common people, the nobles Toraja tribe if the dead body was preserved before burial. Another feature, the bodies of nobles are usually buried on the cliffs and caves in the area of ​​Tana Toraja along with their favorite possessions.
When the funeral procession Toraja traditional ceremony called "Signs Solo". "Signs Solo" is a ritual that is very long and tiring. Because death is not the end of every treatise on life. Thus, an obligation for families to celebrate the last party as a form of homage to the spirits who will go to the afterlife.
The night wore on. Ritual for ritual was already executed. It was time the family establish a ritual Ma `tundan or wake the dead. As the start of Ma `tundan, grief etched on his face again relatives and loved ones of the deceased. Tears fell profusely as a form of their loved ones will be gone forever.
The sounds of mortar and bamboo is done simultaneously with the removal of the bodies of deceased procession from the funeral home to disinggahkan Tongkonan custom home to be buried during the night.
Then, relatives and family together to carry the coffin weighing up to 100 pounds to be raised in a traditional house. According to Toraja traditional procession symbolizes the reunification of the corpse with his ancestors. At the custom house, crate containing the body of the deceased must be kept up all night by relatives.
Day has changed, now is the time to continue the procession moving coffin. Scorching heat did not reduce the local people to honor the dead. They had gathered in the barn house to continue the traditional procession of the coffin transfer from custom homes to the granary.
Then dance tribute was done. Red cloth is spread as a symbol of the greatness of Toraja tribe. Relatives and residents work together to deliver the casket down the barn.When the coffin is lowered, cheers echoed among the population. Residents try to cope with the heavy burden resting on their shoulders. Red cloth, or lamba lamba is laid as a symbol of the bodies way to go.

Finally, the coffin arrived at the barn that is located just below the custom house. In Toraja society's belief, bodies laying in the barn for three nights it signifies the body of late has led to the death of the actual phase.

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The Tau-tau and Ma'Badong (Dance of Death)

A. The Tau-tau

The word tau-tau means 'little person', or, also, 'like a person'. Spoken rapidly the words sound liketatau. $3C/span>The tau-tau is the image of the deceased, dressed in clothing, complete with accessories and jewellery. The effigy is more than a memorial statue as we know it, for it is thought to have a soul, the soul of the deceased.

A specialist (pande tau-tau) fashions the effigy out of nangka-wood. Certain individuals have won fame in the making of these dolls; the carving supplies them with supplementary income. Well-known pande are Teken in Kesu' and Pong Salapu in Sangalla'. Today, resemblance to the deceased is the specialist's goal. Nowadays, since some tau-taucraftsmen, Teken, or Olle, have had training in sculpture on Bali, increasing verisimilitude is being achieved but, it seems to me, at the cost of something of the fascination and mystery characteristic of early death dolls.

Manufacture of the tau-tau is accompanied by offerings. Tau-tau have the genitals of whichever sex which they represent. The dolls have movable limbs so that, for example, even the forearm and upperarm can be detached from each other. The head, too, can be removed. Old effigies found in the vicinity of ancient coffins, do not have movable limbs.

The tau-tau are clothed exactly like a Toraja of status - in an early phase of the ritual, in simple garments, but in grand apparel when he is carried to the slaughtering place of the kerbau.

Finally the tau-tau, approximately one and a half meters tall, are set up beside the rock grave. As they represent the deceased, offerings are made to them. This explains Protestant opposition to the inclusion of the dolls in the burial ceremony. At the funeral of Lai' Kalua' (end 1930's), however, a tau-tau was part of the procession in spite of the fact that, before she died, she had converted to Christianity. For the burial of a woman of prominent descent, which took place in Kesu' in 1975, a tau-tau was also created. The effigy prompted protests from several family members and from the deceased's church, the Protestant Gereja Toraja. In 1978, however, an effigy was carried in the cortege of a Christian funeral.

Function of the tau-tau

The tau-tau is fashioned before the second phase of a major mortuary ritual for the dead commences. During the manufacture of the doll, the woodcarver sleeps near (or even under) the house where the deceased lies on view. Actual work on the effigy also takes place in the vicinity of his house, possibly even on the floor of the rice barn opposite the tongkonan. When the image is completed it is placed beside the dead. Just like the deceased, thetau-tau receives food to eat (an offering, indeed, for giving food to the tau-tau is a ritual process). All this occurs before and during the second phase of the ritual, in other words for quite same time, as the time lapse between the first and the second phase of the ritual can be considerable. While the deceased is brought down to the floor of the rice barn to lie in state there, the tau-tau is also brought down and set in position before the barn. Before this the effigy stood in front of the tulak somba of the house. The doll then had on rather simple clothing, for a male tau-tau a pair of short white trousers (seppa tallu buku). The outfit remains unchanged when the tau-tau takes position in front of the rice barn. Only once the effigy together with the dead - and in the same manner - is carried in a palanquin to the slaughtering place of the buffaloes, does it acquire fancy dress. A headdress appropriate to the status of the deceased is set in place, expensive jewellery is hung round the doll's neck, and his body ornamented with sash and krisses. At the slaughtering place of the buffaloes, the tau-tau remains in the immediate vicinity of the corpse.
The tau-tau, stationed before the grave (or on top of it) keeps alive the memory of the ancestor 'of old'. Once every so many years, his clothing is changed, usually before burial of a new person of rank takes place. From a great height, one by one, the effigies are carried down where they are carefully dressed anew, later to be carried aloft again to their posts in front of the grave. "That it Puang X", people cry out as a doll is carried down from the cliffs. "And that is Puang Y". Older people often recall exactly who the effigies (in Suaya more than a dozen in all) represent.
That the effigy only plays a role shortly prior to the second phase of the mortuary ritual is probably a matter of the 'maturation' of the deceased. In the first phase of the death least, aluk pia, the 'child ritual', the deceased had not yet attained a state in which he can do anything for the rice and for his descendants. During the second stage of the death ritual, however, he already approaches that state. Then the tau-tau,the image of the deceased, the 'living dead', is stationed beside the corpse. In the course of the first phase of a death ritual for an extremely eminent personage, a temporary tau-tau is occasionally fashioned from a bamboo rod. Decked with clothes this effigy rather resembles a scarecrow. Such a temporary tau-tau is called bate lepong.

B. Ma'Badong (Death of Dance)

Ma'badong a ceremonial dance origin of Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi. Ma'badong dance was held at the funeral ceremony conducted in groups. The dancers (pa'badong) form a circle and holding hands and generally they are dressed in black.
Dancers circle and linking to each other pinkie fingers. Dancers consist of male and female middle-aged or older. Pa'badong intoning poetry (Kadong Badong) curriculum vitae, from birth until death of the person who died. The dance is sometimes swallowed Ma'badong hours, even last up to three days and three nights-to-back in the parking place of mourning ceremonies.

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Kete' Kesu

Kete' Kesu is a district tombs of the blue blood's grave. It's located near the Rante Pao area. From Rante Pao you could ride 'pete-pete' or the local public transportation that only cost 3000 IDR. 

What will you find in Kete' Kesu?
Well it's not only about tombs and dead people, it also have traditional village with it's Tongkonan (it's the traditional house), and art market (really good for souvenir).

For the entry to Kete' Kesu, it only cost 5000 IDR. Very cheap! 
Entering the gate of Kete' Kesu, we were welcome by this big buffalo, tight in a bamboo. We took some pictures of it of course.Then we're heading to this pathway side to side with green padding field with buffaloes doing their mud bath.

At the end of the pathway, we could see soo many Tongkonans. Some of them are actually house, local people live there. Behind this traditional village, we went up to the hill entering the tombs zone...spooky! Toraja has culture to respect the spirit of dead people by making a house for them. There's also stairs up to the cliff. In that cliff there's holes to put coffins.Kete' Kesu is an interesting place, it's the heart of Toraja's culture.

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Walking Corpses in Toraja and Ma' Randing (Toraja War Dance)

A. Walking Corpses in Tana Toraja

Long time ago in a cave at the village of Sillanan, human corpses had been found intact, do not decay until nnw. The corpse was not embalmed like the Egyptian people nor given a potion Ancient or anything. But it could remain intact. On the Local people opinion, there is the possibility of such a substance in the Cave of the properties that can preserve human bodies. If only there were geological and chemical experts who would waste time investigating the place, presumably Sillanan cave enigma can be solved. In addition to anti-rotten corpses, there is also a human body that can walk on two legs, like a living person. If you want to find also the difference, there are a different, but not so obvious. Perhaps according to local people, the corpse walk stiffly and somewhat jerky. And the corpse could not walk alone, it must be accompanied by a live person who escorted him, until the final destination of their own homes. Why should it?
this is the story.
Toraja people used to roam the mountainous areas and steep ravines by walking. From ancient times till today remain so. They do not know the cart, wagon, cart or something like that. Well in the course of the heavy trips likely to fall ill and die is always could happen. In order not to be left in the an unknown area (Toraja people respect the spirit of every person who died) and also not to bother other people (will be very unlikely to carry the body continuously along the journey that took many days), then by one magic, perhaps a kind of hypnotism under the terms of today, the bodies are required to go home on foot and only stopped when he had put his body in his own house. And just imagine, the body knows the way, and know which house! Nevertheless there is still one taboo: walking dead should not be touched. Maybe if touched by the miracle that run it will immediately disappears. Who knows.
The last oddity that is not so amazing was "Ballo" (palm wine), which is not intoxicating if drink it, no matter how much you drank. Beside could heating the body, this palm wine, which is mixed with the bark decoction, also could add energy and prolong life. It may be true, since the age of the population there would average 80 to 100 years. Will the palm wine has the same effect if taken outside the Toraja? never been tried.

B. Ma' Randing (Toraja War Dance)

At a large funeral for a higher-caste person, a warrior dance called ma'randing is performed, to welcome the guests. The dancers' outfits are based on traditional warrior dress and weaponry. Basically, the ma'randing dance is a patriotic dance or war dance. The word ma'randing comes from the word randing meaning to glorify while dancing. This dance is held to demonstrate one's skill in handling military weapons, and to praise the courage and strength of the deceased during his lifetime. It is danced by several men, each carrying a large shield, a sword and various ornaments.
Each object worn by a dancer has its own meaning; the shield made of buffalo skin (bulalang) is a symbol of wealth because only the noble and rich people can afford their own buffaloes; the swords (doke, la'bo' bulange, la'bo' pinai, la'bo' todolo) indicate readiness for the oncoming fight and, as such, they symbolize bravery. The helmet consisting of buffalo horns (tanduk, meant to deflect blows) are symbols of masculinity and bravery.
This dance has four principal movements. In the first movement, the commander turns around to inspect his men and their weapons - this is a symbol of discipline. In the second movement, the arm holding the shield is stretched out and the shield moved back and forth and sideways - a symbol of alertness. Then the right foot is lifted slightly from the ground whilst the right heel is stuck into the ground - a symbol of perseverance. Finally the dancers move three steps backwards or one dancer moves to the left and the other to the right to watch the enemy's movements in various directions - also a symbol of alertness. During the dance, the dancers are yelling to encourage each other during the fight. Bystanders will join in and also start yelling. This yell (peongli) can often be heard in Toraja on various occasions.
This dance is performed at a funeral ceremony of a brave member of the local nobility. The dancers also accompany the deceased to his last resting place.
The original meaning of the dance was to keep hostilities away from the village and to protect young girls from being kidnapped by enemies from neighboring villages.

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The Uniqe of Burial in Toraja

The Toraja Tribe of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, is known for the cheerful way of treating death, and its unique burial grounds carved in sheer rock.

There are plenty of tourist destinations area in Indonesia. One of them, and the most beautiful tourist destinations of Indonesia, the green hills of South Sulawesi are home to the Highland of Toraja, a tribe that still honors the old Austronesian lifestyle. Most people in Tana Toraja are Christians, converted during Dutch colonization, but traces of their old beliefs still remain and are most visible during funeral festivities and burial customs. The Toraja are obsessed with death, but not in a tragic sense; to them, funerals are a lot like going-away parties celebrated by sacrificing dozens of buffaloes and pigs for a feast enjoyed by the entire community.

The main concern of a Toraja tribe member is to make sure he raises enough money so the family can held a big funeral ceremony, when one of the family leaves this world. Their bodies are stored under the family home for years after their death. During this time the remaining relatives refer to that person not as “the deceased” but as “the sick”, and raise money for the actual funeral, which is usually attended by hundreds of guests. Tourists are welcome to attend the festivities, as long as they don’t wear black or red.

While churches dot the Toraja countryside, tribe members are rarely buried in the ground. They are either placed in tombs dug into nearby cliffs, or in wooden coffins hanging on the side of mountains. Lemo, one of the most popular burial sites in the area, looks like a big piece of rock Swiss cheese, with holes carved to fit coffins and balconies for the “tau tau” – life-size wooden effigies representing the deceased. In the old days, effigies only showed the deceased’s gender, but now master carvers try to make them look like the actual person. After the body has been placed in its rock tomb, the dead’s effigy is placed along others, in a carved balcony, so his spirit can watch over his descendants. Unfortunately, so many tau tau effigies have been stolen to be sold to tourists that people have started to keep them in their house.

At Ke’te’ kesu’, the dead are not placed in cliff-dug graves, but in wooden caskets hanging from the side of cliffs. The coffins are beautifully decorated with geometrical shapes, but over time the wood begins to rot and the bleached bones of the deceased often exposed. Some Toraja members are so resourceful that they pack the bones of several family members into a single coffin, which eventually causes the sustaining poles to break under the weight. But, judging by the piles of wood and bones at the bottom of the suspended burial ground, this doesn’t seem to bother anyone.

The smallest of the Toraja burial grounds are the “Baby Trees” where the tribe’s young are placed. If a child dies before he has started teething, its mother wraps his body in cloth, makes a another hole in the Baby Tree and places the dead infant inside. The hole is then sealed and as the tree begins to heal, the child is believed to be absorbed.

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