The
Toraja are an ethnic
group indigenous to a
mountainous region of South
Sulawesi
,
Indonesia
.
Their
population is approximately 650,000, of which 450,000 still live in
the regency of
Tana Toraja
("Land of
Toraja"). Most of the population is
Christian, and others are
Muslim or have local
animist
beliefs known as
aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian
government has recognized this animist belief as
Aluk To
Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").
The word
toraja comes from the
Bugis
language's to riaja,
meaning "people of the uplands".
The Dutch colonial
government
named the people Toraja in 1909.
Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial
sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional
houses known as
tongkonan, and
colorful
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
autonomous villages, where they practised animism
and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early
1900s,
Dutch missionaries first worked
to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana
Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the
1970s, it became an icon of
tourism
in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and
studied by
anthropologists. By the
1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed
significantly, from an agrarian model — in which
social life and customs were outgrowths of the
Aluk To Dolo—to a largely Christian society.
Ethnic identity
The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct
ethnic group before the 20th century.
Before Dutch colonization
and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in
highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a
broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created
linkages between highland villages, there were variations in
dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual
practices in the Sulawesi
highland
region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages'
to,
meaning people; and
riaja, uplands) was first used as a
lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja"
initially had more currency with outsiders—such as the
Bugis and
Makassarese, who
constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi—than with
insiders.
The Dutch missionaries' presence in the
highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the
Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise
of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency
.
Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups—the Bugis
(the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the
Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders
and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).
History

Location of Toraja (green) among
Makassarese (yellow) and Bugis (red) on Sulawesi island.
From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political
control on Sulawesi through the
Dutch East Indies Company. Over
two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central
Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it
had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century,
the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of
Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially
among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist
highlanders as potential
Christians. In
the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the
Dutch Reformed Church began
missionary work aided by the Dutch
colonial government. In addition to introducing
Christianity, the Dutch
abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A
line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called
Tana
Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a
subdivision of the
Luwu kingdom that had
claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a
regentschap, and it was
recognized in 1957 as one of the
regencies of
Indonesia.
Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans,
especially among the elite, because the abolition of their
profitable
slave trade had angered them.
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. In 1950, only
10% of the population had converted to Christianity.
In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in
widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align
themselves with the Dutch for
political
protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and
Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following
Indonesian independence),
southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the
Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an
Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15
years of
guerrilla warfare led to
massive conversions to Christianity.
Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not
guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree
required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five
officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (
Protestantism and
Catholicism),
Hinduism,
or
Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief
(
aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised
their voices against the law. To make
aluk accord with the
law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official
religions. In 1969,
Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors")
was legalized as a
sect of
Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of
Hinduism in Indonesia.
Society
There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society:
family, class and religion.
Family affiliation

A Toraja village
Family is the
primary social and
political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one
extended family, the seat of which is the
tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each
tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the
village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between
distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice
that strengthens
kinship. Toraja society
prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the
third cousin)—except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of
property. Kinship is actively
reciprocal, meaning that the
extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and
pay off debts.
Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families,
the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. 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.
Before the
start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the
Tana Toraja Regency
, each Toraja
village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in
which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone,
several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite
against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed
through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses
(
tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of buffalo
and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built
political and cultural ties between families but defined each
person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured
palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared
offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes
should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted
one's share.
Class affiliation
In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to
social class.
There were three
strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves
(slavery was abolished in 1909 by the
Dutch East Indies
government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was
taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On
the other hand, marrying a woman of
higher
class could improve the status of the next generation. The
nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still
maintained today for reasons of family prestige.
Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended
person from heaven, lived in
tongkonans, while commoners
lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called
banua).
Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their
owner's
tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but
nobles preferred to
marry in-family to
maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or
Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from
having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance,
there was some
social mobility, as
marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status.
Wealth was counted by the ownership of
water buffalo.
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. 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.
Religious affiliation
Toraja's indigenous belief system is
polytheistic animism,
called
aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the
law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came
down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans
as a communication medium with
Puang Matua,
the Creator. The cosmos, according to
aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world
of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were
married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the
light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by
rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind,
and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped
roof. Other Toraja gods include
Pong Banggai di Rante (god
of Earth),
Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause
earthquakes),
Pong Lalondong (god of death), and
Indo'
Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.
The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to
both in life (
agriculture) and death
(
funerals), is called
to minaa (an
aluk priest).
Aluk is not
just a
belief system; it is a
combination of law, religion, and habit.
Aluk governs
social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The
details of
aluk may vary from one village to another. One
common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be
separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might
ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals
are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries,
Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing
life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals.
Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practiced today,
while life rituals have diminished.
Culture
Tongkonan

Three
tongkonan in a Torajan
village.
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").
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.
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.
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. 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.
Wood carvings

A Torajan wood carving: each panel
symbolizes goodwill.
Toraja language is
only spoken; no
writing system exists. To express
social and religious concepts, Torajans
carve wood, calling it
Pa'ssura (or
"the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural
manifestation.
Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals
and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants
and animals, such as
crabs,
tadpoles and
water weeds,
are commonly found to symbolize fertility. The image to the left
shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square
panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a
wish for many
buffaloes for the
family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that
all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony,
like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares
represent an
aquatic animal,
indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the
surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill
to produce good results.
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. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in
ethnomathematics to reveal their
mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on
approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a
geometrical tool.
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)
|
Rasterized from
|
Funeral rites

A stone-carved burial site.
Tau tau (effigies of the deceased) were put in the
cave, looking out over the land.
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. 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 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.
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. Torajans traditionally believe
that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process
toward
Puya (the land of souls, or
afterlife). 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.

A burial site.
Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of
water buffalo. The more powerful the person
who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast.
Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a
field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage".
Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make
the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at
Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water
buffalo and hundred of pigs using a
machete
is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music
and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some
of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which
are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the
deceased's family.
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. The coffin of a baby
or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree.
This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and
the coffin falls to the ground.
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). This
is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component
of the funeral ceremony. 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.

Manganda' dance is performed at
Ma'Bua' ritual.
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. 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.
A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo
flute called a
Pa'suling (
suling is an
Indonesian word for flute). This
six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many
dances, such as the thanksgiving dance
Ma'bondensan, where
the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long
fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such
as the
Pa'pelle (made from
palm
leaves) and the
Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a
Jew's harp). The
Pa'pelle is
played during harvest time and at house inauguration
ceremonies.
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, all
elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach
Toraja language.
Language varieties of Toraja,
including
Kalumpang,
Mamasa,
Tae' ,
Talondo' ,
Toala' , and
Toraja-Sa'dan,
belong to the
Malayo-Polynesian
language from the
Austronesian family. At the outset,
the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many
dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal
administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been
influenced by other languages through the
transmigration program, introduced
since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the
linguistic variety of Toraja languages.
Linguistic variety of Toraja languages
Denominations |
ISO 639-3 |
Population (as of) |
Dialects |
Kalumpang |
kli |
12,000 (1991) |
Karataun, Mablei, Mangki (E'da), Bone Hau (Ta'da). |
Mamasa |
mqj |
100,000 (1991) |
Northern Mamasa, Central Mamasa, Pattae' (Southern Mamasa,
Patta' Binuang, Binuang, Tae', Binuang-Paki-Batetanga-Anteapi) |
Ta'e |
rob |
250,000 (1992) |
Rongkong, Northeast Luwu, South Luwu, Bua. |
Talondo' |
tln |
500 (1986) |
|
Toala' |
tlz |
30,000 (1983) |
Toala', Palili'. |
Torajan-Sa'dan |
sda |
500,000 (1990) |
Makale (Tallulembangna), Rantepao (Kesu'), Toraja Barat (West
Toraja, Mappa-Pana). |
Source: Gordon
(2005). |
A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief.
The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has
characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief
and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring
sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. It is a
catharsis to give a clear notion about
psychological and physical effect of loss, and sometimes to lessen
the pain of grief itself.
Economy

Toraja coffee bean
to
Suharto's
"New
Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on
agriculture, with cultivated wet
rice in
terraced fields on mountain
slopes, and supplemental
cassava and
maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted
to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for
ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. The only agricultural
industry in Toraja was a Japanese coffee factory,
Kopi
Toraja.
With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy
developed and opened to foreign investment.
Multinational oil and mining
companies opened new operations in Indonesia.
Torajans,
particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign
companies—to Kalimantan for timber and
oil, to Papua
for mining, and to the cities of Sulawesi
and Java
. The
out-migration of Torajans was steady
until 1985.
The Torajan economy gradually shifted to tourism beginning in 1984.
Between 1984 and 1997, many Torajans obtained their incomes from
tourism, working in hotels, as tour guides, or selling souvenirs.
With the rise of
political and
economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s—including
religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi—tourism in Tana Toraja
has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known
origin for
Indonesian coffee. This
Arabica coffee is primarily grown by small-holders.
Commercialization

A Torajan tomb in a high rocky cliff
is one of the tourist attractions in Tana Toraja.
Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. 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
nobleman in Tana Toraja and
the last pure-blooded Toraja noble.
The event was documented by National Geographic
and broadcast in several European
countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the
regency and in 1981, Torajan
sculpture was
exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the
heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition
brochure, embraced the outside world.
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
".
Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of
150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000
domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was
recorded at 40,000 in 1989. 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.
Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic
adventure—an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western
tourists expected to see stone-age villages and
pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone
as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched"
islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a
hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that
the
tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been
preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination
was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes
between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as
outsiders.
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 "touristic object". 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 objects" 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.
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 "lower-ranking" guides, has
eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. 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.
See also
Notes
- cf. Kis-Jovak et al. (1988), Ch. 2, Hetty Nooy-Palm, The
World of Toraja, pp. 12–18.
- This Toraja myth was directly translated from the history of
Toraja at the official Tana Toraja website toraja.go.id, retrieved on 2007-05-18.
- The death rituals are known as "smoke-descending" rituals,
while the life rituals are "smoke-ascending" rituals; cf.
Wellenkamp (1988).
- In the present day, when tourism is the main income of the
Torajans, funeral feasts have been held by non-noble rich families,
mainly performed as tourist attractions. Volkman (1982) called this
phenomenon a death funeral inflation.
- In 1992, the most powerful Torajan, the former chief of Tana
Toraja Regency, died, and his family asked US$125,000 of a Japanese
TV company as a license fee to film the funeral. Cf. Yamashita
(1994).
- Tau tau have been targeted by grave robbers for antique
collectors. On several occasions, a stolen tau tau' effigy has
appeared in an exhibition show; for instance, at the Brooklyn Museum in
1981 and at the Arnold Herstand Gallery in New York in 1984. Cf. Volkman
(1990).
- cf. Volkman (1983).
- cf. Volkman (1990).
References
Further reading
- Buijs, Kees, 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 2006, KITLV

External links