Burial in Toraja

Ceremony for the people of Toraja Death may take several days because of the many rituals that will be in the title part of it. There are many methods of burial in Toraja. Laid the coffin in a cave or carved stone grave, hung on a cliff, put inside the wooden house and put the bodies inside the trunk tree ( for the babies).

The babies who died before teething is placed inside the cavity of a ± 300 years old tree named Tarra Tree. The tree has a lots of sap instead of breast milk for those babies as returned them to the mother’s womb. The Aluk Todolo followers, those who belief in ancestor, only did this funeral tradition. Aluk is not just a beliefs. It is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Its original, ancient and mysterious.The baby’s funeral began with wrap the body with white cloth while the family noted a tree that would be used as a cemetery and made a hole on it. Before the bodies taken to the grave the others prepared the rope fibers and grave cover made of palm leave as their level of social status. The more higher status the more higher they put the bodies. A black boar was slaughtered in the funeral home yard and will be brought and cooked inside the bamboo without any seasoning at to the cemetery, later became one of Toraja cuisine name Pa’piong. No one allowed to talk each other during the procession until the Pa’piong cooked and the bamboo was splited. Even some of the local people still follows "Aluk Todolo", this tradition is no longer anymore since the last decades but still we can see that tree where the baby bodies already blend in the trunk.

found the complete of my article on Venture Magazine, March/ April 2011 issue.
I always love Toraja....