SOUTH SULAWESI
Tanah Toraja is one of Sulawesi’s best attractions that many have heard about but few have experienced. Its pesta kematian (death festival) has attracted visitors from all over the world and for a good reason – it’s colorful, fascinating and truly out-of-this-world.
The journey to experience this unique culture begins at Makassar, the gateway to South Sulawesi. From there, it’s a scenic eight-hour drive to reach the Toraja highlands. In the excitement to experience the Toraja death festival, it’s easy to overlook or forgo Makassar as a destination. However, those who are willing to spend a day or two in Indonesia’s third largest city will find it rewarding.
The name Makassar resonates in the history books of Southeast Asia. From the time of Portuguese and Dutch settlements in eastern Indonesia, Makassar has always been an important shipping and trading centre. A good place to see its colonial history is at Fort Rotterdam which is still intact with its barracks, quarters, church and prison. There’s museum inside the Fort with a good collection of artifacts that gives an overview about the history and culture of South Sulawesi.
The drive from Makassar to Tanah Toraja is a noteworthy journey in itself. The change of ethnic characteristics unrolls as the drive continues from the coastal lines of South Sulawesi to the Toraja highlands. Bugis homes with its buffalo horn-shaped roof give way to the boat-like roofs of the Torajans (called tongkonan). And both cultures are a distinct as the sea and sky – the Bugis are devout Muslims with the love of the sea in their hearts, while the Torajans are mainly Christians who passionately keep their ancient beliefs alive in the lush highlands. The Toraja death ceremony predates their Christian practices and is one of their important rituals that has survived time.
Most tours will include a stop or two en route, mainly for meals and to stretch your legs. The bonus is that the stops are often located at charming snack shacks that overlook the green hills of Batu Kebobong. There’s really nothing much to do here but to order some drinks and snacks, sit back and rest your eyes on the vista before continuing the journey.
In Tanah Toraja, accommodation, restaurants and other amenities can be found in either Rantepao or Makale, where most visitors base themselves.
The experience of being at a pesta kematian is a matter of luck and timing. Good tour guides will usually have contacts who can inform them if a celebration is underway. Unlike dances or other folk arts, pesta kematian is not staged for tourism consumption. Each pesta kematian is a personalized event to celebrate the passing of a loved one. To be part of a pesta kematian is an honour and privilege that visitors should not miss. The main celebration season is between July and October, when most Torajans return home to honour their dead.
To organize and host a pesta kematian is an expensive affair, reserved only to Torajan nobility. Torajan commoners do not host pesta kematian. Depending on the status of a family, a number of buffaloes, a symbol of wealth among the Torajans, will be sacrificed, along with quantities of pigs, to feed thousands of guests. Special pavilions will be built to seat the family and guests while an elaborate grave, coffin and effigy will be prepared for the deceased. Torajans will spend years accumulating enough money (and debt along the way) for such a feast.
A pesta kematian is a day long affair, with sacrifices, singing, dancing, processions, eating and drinking. The celebration of death is important to them because they believe that the deceased needs to undergo the funeral ceremony to proceed to the afterlife. After death, the deceased will be remembered through an effigy of his or her image, called tau-tau. Since it takes a few years to get the necessary money to organize such an event, the deceased will be carefully kept and preserved in the house that he or she used to live in, and treated as if it were still part of the family. Therefore, it could be months or years before the deceased is finally buried.
An event that may occur concurrently with a pesta kematian is the Torajan bull fight. Experiencing a bull fight is likely only by chance. Such tournaments are usually held at short notice and the fight arena is usually at a small field near the paddy fields. Visitors should be warned that these bull fights attract a large number of people and the bulls have been known to grow restless and run amok among the spectators.
Interesting sites to visit around Tanah Toraja would be Lemo (hanging grave) where a collection of funeral huts, adult graves and baby graves as well as stone megaliths are available for tourists to explore. The adult graves are carved into boulders. A single grave can take up to three months to carve and is usually big enough for a family. Baby graves are unique in that less very young babies, when deceased, are buried into graves carved into the trunk of jackfruit trees. Over time, the tree trunk would grow and swallow up the baby grave, leaving a faint mark that it was ever there.
The village of Kete Kesu, a UNESCO heritage site, is another must-see attraction where visitors can view large funeral houses, graves pinned to cliff walls and old coffins in the shape of pigs or buffaloes, as well as authentic tongkonan houses and rice barns called lumbu. According to legend, Torajans ancestors arrived by boat and upon reaching the highland, they dismantled their boats and converted it into their homes. Lumbu is smaller than a tongkonan and is usually built facing the tongkonan. Both buildings are characterized by the colorful carvings on the wall panels, in deep red, black, yellow and white.
Another site that cannot be missed is the village of Lemo where visitors can see hill and cliff graves. Tau-taus line the walls of the hill graves, with their palms facing upwards, as if asking to be cared for and remembered. The hills graves are pleasantly located in the midst of paddy fields, so a visit here also offers a chance to sample the rural aspect of their lives. A few tau-tau making workshops dot the area, where visitors not only can watch a tau-tau maker at work, it’s also possible to have a tau-tau custom-made in your image if you wish.
End the Torajan journey with some souvenirs indigenous to the region. Coffee and vanilla grown there are two delicious options to remember Toraja by. For something longer lasting, Torajans are also known for their fine beadwork. Look out for bead necklaces made from hard berries that grow in the area. The bead berries can, apparently, last for up to 20 years. While it’s nowhere near as enduring as the Torajans century-old practices, it is a sturdy reminder of a warm and unique people who strive to ensure their culture is proudly kept alive. END. |
