Londa Cave, Stone cemetery Lemo and Kambira - Baby Graveyard

A. Londa Cave

Traveling to Tana Toraja is not complete if you haven’t visited Londa Cave because the burial area in the caves and cliffs is one of the unique tourist attraction  that is hard to find in any other place.

Londa is a natural cave used as a cemetery. The cave is located in the village Sa’dan Uai, Sanggalangi District, about 15 kilometers from thecenter of Makale.For Toraja people, Londa Cave is sacred. Even so, the cemetery which maintained by family foundation is open to anyone. Visitors are required to comply with certain traditional rules while in the place. One of ‘em is not allowed to move, let alone take, the skulls scattered in the corners of the cave (But seriously, would you?).

Around the door of the cave, it seemed tens, even hundreds, of an old coffins and skulls and bones of humans who had been buried in that place. Coffins are stuffed in the corners of the cliff some are even hanged.Some sculptures are also made for the buried bodies that resembles the corpse’s face. The sculptures are equipped with fashion, clothes and gloves, which are adjusted by gender of the corpse. The sculpture is called‘tau-tau’.The cemetery consists of three levels. The first level is located in the cave and the base of the cliff. The secondlevel is in the middle of the cliff and the third level on top of the steep cliff with a height of about 200 meters.

This level is adjusted to the social status of people who will be buried. One who is buried at the base of cliffs and caves are one with mediocre social status. The middle for the middle social status, while one was buried on top of the cliff is a group of nobles and kings.The sculpture or tau-tau was reserved only for nobles.

B.  Stone cemetery Lemo

Lemo Stone graves located in Toraja, South Sulawesi, is the second oldest cemetery in Toraja after Songgi Patalo.On the site that was built around the 16th century, there are approximately 75 and 40 grave statues of people who have died.
Each hole is a family cemetery. That location is one of the Toraja tourist attraction visited by many tourists, both foreign and local.Graves made ​​in the rock Lemo named because its shape resembles a round lime (citrus). When viewed from the outside, would only appear to the door that closed the hole with wooden planks.
The location of these holes is quite high, reaching tens of meters. Bodies inserted into or withdrawn with a rope ladder.

C. Kambira  - Baby Graveyard

Kambira is a village, south-east of Rantepao that is home to one of the biggest baby grave sites in Tana Toraja. I was told the baby grave site in Kambira houses up to 20 baby graves...in a tree.The Torajan's bury deceased babies in a tree, each village is generally home to a baby grave tree, which serves as the grave site for the babies from that particular village.I was curious what the Torajan's classified as a baby...apparently one that has not as yet grown teeth. In Kambira the babies are buried inside a very big, old tree in a bamboo forest in the village. It was cool and dark, the sun's rays shadowed by the huge bamboo.

This is a very old custom in Tana Toraja and still relates to the animism beliefs of the local people. The babies bodies are placed standing upright inside the tree - as local people believe that (or hope that) the babies will grow inside the tree.

They cut a hole into the tree to place the babies inside and then place a woven like door over the top of the hole to cover it. The doors are made of bark and twigs from a palm tree and have different numbers of wooden nails or pegs with rope woven around them. The number of wooden nails/pegs differs depending on the caste of the family. The ones that I saw, mostly had four wooden nails, meaning they were of average status within this particular village. One's that have six are of a higherstatus.
Apparently the holes in the tree, eventually close-up by themselves and then the little woven door is not needed anymore and eventually rots and falls off the tree...leaving the sealed-up hole visable...I could see where some holes had closed up. Because of this, it made it very difficult to actually count how many babies had been buried in this tree, as some holes had completely closed and it was difficult to distinguish them compared to natural lines and marks in the old tree.I felt sad thinking about all the babies buried inside that lone tree.

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To Make a Dead Man Walk

In times past, when the villages of Tana Toraja were still extremely 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 be present at his own funeral. In this way, relatives of the deceased were spared the necessity of having to carry his corpse. One particular area, Mamasa, also known as West 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 Toraja. However, outsiders often refer to them as Toraja Mamasa. 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.

According to the belief system of the people of Mamasa, 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 been completed. In the past, people of this area were frightened to journey far, in case they died while they were away and were unable to return to their village. If someone died while on a journey, and unless he has a strong magic power, it would be necessary to procure the services of an expert, to guide the dead person back to the village.

This is not intended metaphorically-the dead person would be made to walk from wherever he had journeyed back home, no matter how far away that was. The corpse would walk stiffly, without any expression on his face, in the manner of a robot. If anyone addressed the dead man directly, he would fall down senseless, unable to continue his journey. Therefore, those accompanying the deceased on the macabre 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 back to their place of origin has fallen out of currency.

Good roads now connect the villages of Tana Toraja, and people tend to rely on more conventional means of transportation for bringing bodies back home. The ability to bring the dead back to life has not been entirely forgotten, however. Sometimes, even now, the deceased is made to continue breathing and seems alive until all his relatives are gathered around him.More commonly, the skill is practiced on animals. At a funeral ceremony, when a buffalo has been sacrificed and its head separated from its body, the body is made to get up and walk for as long as ten minutes. A demonstration of this sort proves to the audience that the ability to bring the dead back to life has not entirely passed from the community.

Ceremony Rambu Solo itself consists of two stages :

·         The first phase was conducted in the west of the house (Tongkonan) people died. Time after noon.

·         The second ceremony was held in a clearing called rante. The timing is also after noon. Interval between the first and second ceremony at least one year.

The second ceremony, is the culmination of the ritual Rambu Solo. The higher the social status of the deceased, the greater the ceremony. The amount of ritual measured by the number of animals slaughtered. royal family will cut between 24 to 100 buffaloes.  For the middle class just eight buffaloes plus 50 pigs.

Various interesting activities Signs Solo of ceremony:

·         Signs and dance of ritual Rambu solo, which is ma’badong, guests in attendance formed a circle, holding hands. Then they sing and dance together. song describes the pain.

·         Matinggoro tedong (cut buffalo). How to cut the buffalo in this ceremony is unique, ie cut the buffalo’s neck with a machete in one swing.

At the peak of the event, held ma’balun rituals, (wrap the body), ma’roto (giving gold and

·         silver ornaments in a coffin), ma’parokko (lower body to the barn to be buried), and ma’palao (carrying the corpse to the cemetery .) When the delivery body, long red cloth is created for itself over the deceased family.

In Aluk teachings, perfection Rambu solo implementation will determine the fate of those who died after she was buried. Would it be a spirit that reaches the level of a god or a god protector. Because it is near over, families late are required to give thanks to God. 

Introduce: Death Ceremony or Rambu Solo in Toraja

  What do you do if someone you really has passed away? Crying all the time? Not in Toraja. They will make hilarious party to honoring the defunct.

    In Toraja, there is a big funeral party to showing respect to the person who passing away. This ceremony called RAMBU SOLO. This ceremny is so hilrious.

    Host will greeting the guest with a lot of dish and dance. There is 4 diferent level of Rambu solo ceremony, refer Toraja social status :

1. Dipasangi Bongi: the ceremony held for one night only.

2. Dipatulung Bongi: the ceremony held for 3 nights, and the host will serve livestock to the guest.

3. Dipalimang Bongi: the ceremony held for 5 nights, and the host will serve livestock to the guest.

4. Dipapitung Bongi: the ceremony held for 7 nights, and the host will serve livestock everyday to the guest.

    The highest level of Rambu Solo ceremony will be held twice a year. The first called Aluk Pia and the second called Rante. Rante will be held on special ground field because there is so many rituals will be held. The rituals are: 

1. Ma'tundan;

2. Mebalun (wrapping corpse);

3. Ma'roto (decorating the coffin);

4. Ma'popengkalo Alang (removing the coffin from house);

5. Ma'palao (bring the coffin frim granary to the final destination, grave yard).