Journey into the land of the dead

There is no culture in the world that celebrates funerals more lavishly than weddings except of Toraja Land in the northern part of South Sulawesi. We have been fortunate that we could attend the funeral ceremony of a rich and respected man. The richer their families are, the bigger and more lavish the celebration. But let us start with our first day in Torajaland. Our guides Yakub Kakke and Rante spoke good English and were very knowledgable in what they present. Our drive from Makassar was long and strenuous, we contacted the owner of Pison Hotel where we stayed for the whole time we were in Rantepao. He immediately engaged his driver to pick us up. The drive was interesting and there was a lot to see. Our airline Sriwijaya Air had a couple of massive delays and we were not able to see the mountainuous part of Torajaland during the car ride.Here is some information about Torajaland or Tana Toraja


Our car was broken into at the parking lot of Hotel Bukit Kenari Indah, Pare-pare.
We stopped in Pare Pare, a nice town by the sea but a horrible tourist city. Everything was expensive and of lower quality than what we had between Luwuk and Ampana. They brought us to a restaurant and hotel, Bukit Indah Kenari. The hotel and restaurant was nice but the food was so-so at best and relatively expensive for Indonesian standards. As we wanted to get into the car, we noticed that somebody has broken the window and stole our driver's two bags. Luckily the drivers brought their money with them and the thief could be happy with dirty smelly clothes. We brought our bags with us but the thief didn't try to steal our backpacks. It took hardly a quarter of an hour before there was a large crowd gathering at our car, everybody showed compassion, had something to advise and the police came very quickly.The owner of Pison Hotel demanded Hotel Bukit Kenari Indah to pay the damage as it was their fault. A hotel should employ security guards especially when it is so dark. Hotel Bukit Kenari Indah refused to pay the damage and apparently not prepared to take over responsibility. It was very negligent to not employ security guards and I need to write this because they should have employed security guards. We arrived late night at Hotel Pison Rantepao.


14 November 2014
We were dead-tired as we arrived at Hotel Pison and slept in until midday. Then we followed our guide Rante to see a water buffalo fight which was part of the death rite celebrations. After this we tried mie bakso kerbau or noodle soup with water buffalo meatballs. They served us fresh duck eggs and pisang ijo(green banana) for the first time. Then our trip continued to Kete K'esu where we could see a burial site and many traditional Toraja houses. It was raining as we arrived at the hotel and therefore we had some food at the hotel. Death rite celebrations last a couple of days and is a very expensive event.

15 November 2014
Our guide Yakub Kakke took us into the southern part of Toraja, to Londa, Lemo, we watched the baby graves and many megalithic stones. At Londa we needed to follow an extra guide who guided us with a lamp through the caves. Here we could see many coffins and clay statues called Tau Tau.It was impressive and we could hardly find words to see a different cultural world along with beautiful landscape. We also saw graves near Makkale and had typical Toraja food like Papiong(fish, chicken or pork) roasted in bamboo in a typical warung(Indonesian streetfood stall). On every tour we could see the Tongkonan or Torajan tradition house which is the center of social interaction between the nobilities. Also Torajans believe that death is not a sudden abrupt event but a gradual process towards Puya, the land of the souls or afterlife.Many coffins have the shape of a ship because it is said that they would be transported to Puya by ship. The buffalo slaughtering has a unique meaning: The soul of the deceased person will ride the soul of the buffalo on their way to Puya. Only those families who had sacrified at least 24 buffaloes will be given a Tau Tau or statue near their grave. One buffalo cost IDR 1 billion which is roughly about EUR 80.000,-

16 November 2014
Today Rante took us into the northern part of Toraja, into the mountains with breathtaking views and man-made stone graves. While in the south, natural limestone caves could serve as a resting place for the dead, in the north they were cut into the stone with chisel and hammer. We saw beautiful Lokomata and Batu Tumonga. AFter this we visited a market where I bought a black Torajan sarong and greyish scarf for the funeral celebration tomorrow. The dress code to attend such funeral celebration is black or dark, shoulders and knees covered.

Funeral celebration 17 November
We were expected to donate a package of cigarettes although this is not a requirement. There were virtually thousands of people gathering while some were Western tourists. Yakob could find a good spot for us to sit and we could watch the many people dancing and chanting. Unfortunately it was not the main slaughtering day where virtually 15-24 bufalloes can be sacrified. There was only one water buffalo sacrifice on that day. The butcher did a good job with his machete and before you realise the buffalo was dead. I think the buffaloes were drugged while the pigs were not. I felt very sorry for the pigs because very few people know that they were sensitive and social animals. I saw the pigs virtually shivering awaiting their turn to be slaughtered while they could watch the others being slaughtered. We had lunch like pork satay and fish papiong along with some sweet snacks