Torajan people

The Torajans are an

The word Toraja comes from the Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands", this cognates with the Toraja language to raya/to raja/to raa which also means "inland/upland people" or "northern people".^[5] The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909.^[6] Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colourful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.

Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in

The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before

Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them.^[13] Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted.^[14] In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.^[13]

In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for

There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.^[citation needed]

Family affiliation

Family is the

Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia.[18] Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.^{[citation needed]}

Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the

Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status.^[21] Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women—a crime punishable by death.^{[citation needed]}

Religious affiliation

Toraja's indigenous belief system is

The decline of the Toraja religion began with the Christianization under rule of the Dutch. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals.^[14] Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished. The traditional Toraja religion is today only practiced by a small minority.^[25]

Culture

Tongkonan

Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").^[26]

Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin.^[9][19] According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.^[27]

The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu.^[28] The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.^{[citation needed]}

Architecture in the style of a tongkonan is still very common. Various administration buildings were built in this style in recent years, e.g. the Kecamatan building in Rantepao.^{[citation needed]}

Wood carvings

To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.^[29]

Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolise some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as

Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering.[30] Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations.^[30] To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.^{[citation needed]}

Some Toraja Patterns

pa'tedong
(buffalo)

pa'barre allo
(the sun and its rays)

pa're'po' sanguba
(dancing alone)

ne'limbongan
(the legendary designer)

Rasterised from^[31]

On 24 March 2022, about 125 patterns were given communal intellectual property copyright sertificates by the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, in order for protecting of traditional culture expressions.^[32]

Funeral rites

In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast.^[33] The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased's family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.^[34]

The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses.^[35] Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife).^[36] During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.^[37]

Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of

There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land.^[40] Whilst a coffin of a baby is embedded into a burrow of a living tree, so called "baby tree".^[41]

In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes.^[42]

Dance and music

Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong).^[10][38] This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony.^[34] On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.^{[citation needed]}

As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice.^[43] There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.^[44]

A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo

Among the Saʼadan (eastern Toraja) in the island of Sulawesi (Celebes), Indonesia, there are homosexual male toburake tambolang shamans; although among their neighbors the Mamasa (western Toraja) there are instead only heterosexual female toburake shamanesses.[46]

Language

The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community,^[1] all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.^{[citation needed]}

A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterised their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning.[34] The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.^[48]

Economy

Prior to

Before the 1970s, Western tourism was almost unknown in the Toraja highland area. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking

In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali".^[8] Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists),^[7] and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989.^[11] Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.^[55][19]

Tourism developers marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure—an area rich in culture and off-the-beaten-track. Toraja was marketed for tourists who had gone as far as Bali and were interested in seeing more of the wild, "untouched" islands. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and

A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.^[7]

Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by non-aristocratic guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy.^[8] High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Demographics of Indonesia
• Tourism in Indonesia
• Proto-Malay
• Anito

Notes

References

• ISBN 978-0-8248-3072-4
  .
• Bigalke, Terance (2005). Tana Toraja: A Social History of an Indonesian People. Singapore: KITLV Press.
  ISBN 978-9971-69-318-3
  .
• Kis-Jovak, J.I.; Nooy-Palm, H.; Schefold, R. & Schulz-Dornburg, U. (1988). Banua Toraja: changing patterns in architecture and symbolism among the Sa'dan Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Amsterdam: Royal Tropical Institute.
  ISBN 978-90-6832-207-1
  .
• Nooy-Palm, Hetty (1988). The Sa'dan-Toraja: A Study of Their Social Life and Religion. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
  ISBN 978-90-247-2274-7
  .

Further reading

• Adams, Kathleen M. (1993). "The Discourse of Souls in Tana Toraja (Indonesia): Indigenous Notions and Christian Conceptions" (PDF). Ethnology. 32 (1): 55–68.
  JSTOR 3773545
  .
• Barley, Nigel (2013). Toraja: Misadventures of an Anthropologist in Sulawesi, Indonesia, Singapore: Monsoon Books.
  ISBN 978-981-4423-46-5
  ; ebook 978-981-4423-47-2.
• Buijs, Kees (2006). Powers of blessing from the wilderness and from heaven. Structure and transformations in the religion of the Toraja in the Mamasa area of South Sulawesi. Leiden:
  KITLV
  .
• Hollan, Douglas W. & Wellenkamp, Jane C. (1996). The Thread of Life: Toraja Reflections on the Life Cycle. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
  ISBN 978-0-8248-1839-5
  .
• Nooy-Palm, C.H.M. (1975). "Introduction to the Sa'dan Toraja people and their country". Archipel. 10: 53–91.
  doi:10.3406/arch.1975.1241
  .
• Nooy-Palm, Hetty. The Sa’dan-Toraja: A Study of Their Social Life and Religion. Volume I: Organization, Symbol and Beliefs. Brill, 1979. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctvbqs8kz. Accessed 21 Jan. 2023.
• Parinding, Samban C. & Achjadi, Judi (1988). Toraja: Indonesia's Mountain Eden. Singapore: Time Edition.
  ISBN 978-981-204-016-9
  .
• Waterson, Roxana (2009). Paths and Rivers: Sa'dan Toraja Society in Transformation. Leiden: KITLV.
• de Jong, Edwin B.P. (2013). Making a Living between Crises and Ceremonies in Tana Toraja: The Practice of Everyday Life of a South Sulawesi Highland Community in Indonesia. BRILL.
  ISBN 978-90-04-25247-9
  .

External links

• Tana Toraja Traditional Settlement - UNESCO world heritage tentative list
• tanatorajakab.go.id - Official site for Government of Tana Toraja regency
• Visittoraja.com - information about Toraja
• PHOTOS: The Dead Live With Their Loved Ones On This Indonesian Island

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