A Torajan Rice Field
This weekend, Noreen and I flew to Makassar, a city on the island of Sulawesi, and boarded a night bus for ten hours to get to Tana Toraja. I had been wanting to see Tana Toraja since I first arrived. It is an area that is famous for its green rice patties, it's boat shaped rice barns, and it's elaborate and brutal funeral ceremonies. We got off the bus after very little sleep and were flagged down by two guides. About two hours later we found ourself at a traditional Torajan Funeral with blood everywhere.
For each funeral the family slaughters as many buffalos and pigs as they can afford. With many buffalos going for thousands and thousands of dollars, this is a very expensive tradition. However, the family does not mind the expense since they feel the more they do to please their ancestors, the more good fortune it will bring them and their living family. In addition to their tradition of ancestor worship, they are also devout Christians. However, I'm not sure how their funeral ceremonies fit into their other faith.
Often times it takes a while for a family to save enough money to buy the buffalos and pigs needed for a proper send off. As a result, the body is embalmed and kept in the home with the family until the funeral. This can be for a period of months, and sometimes years. During this time the person is not considered dead, but still an active and living member of the family [I met one American women earlier this year whose Torajan husband grew up sleeping in bed with his dead grandfather's body. This should sort of put any annoyance you might have felt towards your grandparents at some point in perspective]. Our guide told us that people feel this extra time gives them more time to get used to life without their loved one and helps them cope with their grief.
A procession of women paying their respects to the family
A guest wearing a traditional sarong
We arrived at the funeral after the buffalos had had their throats cut. The first thing we saw was about 5 buffalos surrounded by a lot of blood. After this a group of men wearing hard hats took machetes and dismembered each one. The meat was divided and distributed to each family at the ceremony based on their status. I had never seen so much blood before and I had never seen an animal taken apart before in front of me. It didn't actually bother me too much. This sorta made me feel like Dexter and told me that I probably don't have any latent vegetarian tendnancies.
My boss had told me his trip to Toraja reminded him a lot of Apocalypse Now. I thought this was a pretty good description
Everyone at the funeral was very friendly. They are there to remember the departed, but they are also there to socialize and visit with their extended family. It is one of the main social events for the community. There are no tears. Everybody is served tea and cookies and chit chat while children play and pigs pass by squealing on there way to slaughter and men smash their machetes into the buffalos carcasses.
Two women chewing Beetlenut, which acts as a stimulant
The worst part were the pigs. They seemed to know they were about to meet their maker so they squealed uncontrollable while they waiting to be served up for lunch. Even I had to admit that they the sound was pretty disturbing and showed that the rumors of pigs being super smart does in fact appear to be true.
The pigs on their way in and on their way out
Luckily, I'm pretty sure that I don't have a secret bloodlust. While I didn't get sick, I also did not have an urge to slap on a hard had and grab a machete. Instead, I think I was just fascinated by the fact that people still have this type of ceremony. Perhaps it's a little more honest than me pretending that my various meat products magically appear at Stop and Shop after a painless and humane death. However, I really can't wrap my head around keeping your loved one's body in the family room, unless of course you're Norman Bates.
Noreen and I at the funeral entrance with a pig smoking behind us
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