The death ritual, the ceremony of the western domain

For a number of reasons, the burial ceremony ha a central place in Toraja culture. For
adherents of the old religion, Aluk to Dolo, it is important to give deceased relative the most
complete burial ritual possible. For people of high status, this a costly business, for the deceased
can only ascend to upper world and become an ‘active’ ancestor, protecting the pa’rampuan and
watching over the rice, after the time consuming and expensive interment is completed. A further
factor is that the way the family conducts these festivities must make a good impression of
outsiders. These outsider include friends and more distant relatives who may contribute a buffalo
or a pig to the occasion, either to make an impression themselves, or to settle a debt. Their
conception of debt is different to ours. It implies more of an exchange. If A contributes a buffalo
to the burial rites of B’s father (o mother) this means that B in turn must do the same for A’s
father or mother. Such a sequence of exchange can continue for generations. This means that
Cristians, too, find is hard to break old relationships and obligations. These exchanges maintain
connections of blood or marriage, friendship or acquaintance, village or bua’, and are of great
social importance.

There are various grades of death ritual, applying, from the lowest to the highest ranks, to
the burial of : people of the (former) slave class, free persons, persons of noble blood, or of
puang rank. We will restrict ourselves below to the descriptions of a high-ranking ceremony.

After death, the corpse is washed, dressed in ceremonial garments and set on a chair in
the southern part of the house. It should be noted that the house where the death occurred is not
always where the first stages of the rites take place. Various considerations can lead to the
deceased being transferred to another tongkonan. These include: the accessibility of house and
ground, the availability of sufficient water (necessary for the great number of guests), and the
proximity to a rante, the place where the last sequence of rituals are held. The tongkonan must
be in accordance which the deceased’s mother claims membership, since the ritual for the dead
must be in accordance with the customs of the mother’s descent line. The deceased remains for
several days on the ceremonial chair, then is wrapped in many layers of cotton and finally
covered with a sort of kapok blanket. The result resembles a large cocoon, which is placed on a
bier in the sourthern part of tongkonan, in the western side of the sumbung chamber. The
deceased is reffered to as the ‘sick one’ until the commencement of the burial rites proper. The
reason for postponement of the ceremonies are usually of an economic nature: the family cannot
agree on which grade of ritual is appropriate, or on the costs in volved in the lodging of guests,
or dance troupes or the bufalloes to be purchased. Once agreement has been reached in these
various matters, the deceased, until now lying in state in an east-west position, is moved to the
central chamber, and laid in a north-south position.

He is now officially dead, an about at this time a buffalo is slaughtered, the

pa’karudu’san (‘he who dies’ at the same time as the ritual death of deceased, showing again the
identification of man and buffalo). A further buffalo is slain, this animal being known as the
‘addition to the soul’. The first sequence of the death rites concludes with the bringing of the
sacred cloths of family or place, which are hung either on the front gable of the house, or on the
western side. Krisses are also hung on the front gable, and these days a portrait of the deceased
is also displayed. This part of the death rite ends with cock-fights, which may be a blood
offering, or a homage to Pong Lalondong (Lord Cock), king of Underworld. This is an important
even for the men present, who bet heavily on the fights.

The ceremonies are as a rule now brought to an end, to be resumed at a later date,
sometimes after several years. A high-ranking burial rite is an exacting undertaking, and it is
generally more practical to conduct it in two sections. Several considerations affect this, such as
the problem of housing guests for a long time, and the fact than if too many buffaloes are
slaughtered at once, the meat will spoil.

The guests are housed in fine bamboo huts (see photo 115). A row of these guests houses,
built against each other, rings the ritual ground where the final phase of the ceremonies will take
place. They have the appearance of a settlement, and are known as a death-village.

For the second phase of the ceremonies, the deceased is ‘awakened’, naturally with
considerable clamour. In some areas such as Kesu’ and rembon (district Talion) the corpse is for
a time laid in a kind wooden trough, which will later be suspended on the ba’, or teng (the beam
running along the roof on each side of the house, about a third of the distance from eave to
ridge). The second phase of the ceremony open with the lowering of the corpse from the ba’ or
teng. This is a busy period of the ceremonies. A simbuang (monolith) must be brought to serve
as a monument to the deceased. A new stone is set up for each person who dies, and it must be
dragged to the ritual ground, across the muddy sawah. This event is accompanied by crowds, and
must festivity. Once it has arrived at the rante, the monolith is erected with the other simbuang,
in a row or in a circle (see photo 52-56). The significance of the different ways of arranging the
simbuang, in rows or in a circle, is not clear.

Further preparations consist of the construction of the ‘corpse tower’ on the rante, the
bier, the effigy, and the tuang-tuang chain (see below). Bier and tower have the form of a Toraja
house. The ‘corpse tower’, the lakkean, is a building with several levels with a saddle-shaped
roof with upswept ends. Is is built of wood and bamboo (see photo 116). The roof is decked with
atap (palm leaves). The sarigan (bier) consists of litter, with a saddle-shaped roof above, also
with upswept ends (photo 59). The roof is supported by eight richly carved uprights. The tau-tau
(effigy) is either entirely of wood, or made of bamboo dressed in clothing. The bamboo tau-tau
is called tau-tau lampa (tau-tau means little person, lampa is a segment of bamboo used for
carrying water). The face of the tau-tau lampa is covered with cloth, on which eyes are portrayed
(photo 56).

The wooden tau-tau is made of nangka wood by a specialist sculptor. The sculptor are
nowadays often trained in Bali. The traditional face of an old-style effgy, with finely carved
features, aquiline nose and almond-shape eyes has completely given way to a realistic rendering
of the subject. The tau-tau is made up of separate parts: trunk, head, arms and legs. It also bears
sexual organs according to the gender of the deceased. Once the sculpture is ready, it is dressed
in appropriate fine clothes. For the highest grade of interment rites, a tuang-tuang made. This is
huge bamboo chain which borders the ground of the tongkonan. Later, the tuang-tuang is wound
about the rice barn (photo 57).

Meanwhile the badong (death chants) are sung, chiefly by night. For these chants, the
participants form a line, which then moves to form a circle. The chanters then move
anticlockwise in aritual dance. The chants praise the deceased and guide him or her on the
journey to Puya, naming the places through which the soul ascends to the firmament to take his
orher place between the Pleiades and the Great Bear.

Women mourn the dead in another manner. Wailing loudly, the lean their heads in their
arms against the wrapped cropse. This occurs as several moments in the ritual sequence, such as
when the deceased goes through the ritual death and when the corpse is carrid to the rice barn.
The latter is an mportant ceremony. The corpse is carrid in a horizontal attitude, out of the
tongkonan and is place on the floor of the alang. A black buffalo with a white head is sacrificed.
The women begin their lament and the tau-tau in its full reagalia, is placed against an upright at
the front of the rice barn. The death priest place an offering of food and sirih-pinang at its feet.
The deceased must also eat. He is kept company and has been since his ritual death by the to
ma’pemali (pemali=taboos), a woman charged with enforcing the various taboos, and by further
woman called ‘she who serves the maize’. All the above functionaries eat maize during a great
part of the ritual as rice is taboo.

A number of family members are also subject to this. For two days and two nights the
mortal remains stay on the Sali of the rice barn. Then it is moved to the bier, which is positioned
in a north-south line. The head of the corpse is as before, placed towards the south. Figures of
gold leaf are now fastened to the outside of the corpse’s wrappings. These vary in form
depending on wheather the deceased is a man or woman. The ends of a man’s wrappings are
decorated with a barre allo figure, those of woman with a doti langi’ figure (see photo 60 and
61). Once this is accomplished the cortege is formed and the procession leaves for the rante. First
come buffaloes, led by the animal which will carry the deceased to Puya. He bears a sacred cloth
as saddle-cover. Then come warrior dancers, with the tuang-tuang, followed by men bearing
sacred banners. They are followed by tau0tau on its litter, and the bier. This enormous structure
is born by about forty men. Then come members of the family, walking under along red cloth.
The widow ar the widower, the woman responsible for the taboos and ‘she who serves the
maize’ then follow, carried in litters decked in black. Finally come friends, family members not
closely enough related to walk under the red cloth, fellow villagers and so on. The body of the
deceased is energetically raised and lowered as it is carrid along, as is the litter of the widow or
widower. On arrival at the rante the tau-tau is positioned on the first floor on the lakkean. The
death prised an his attendant women (mentioned above) take their places on the second floor.

Five trees are arected by the simbuang, and to each tree is bound a buffalo of a specified
colour. These, together with other, are sacrified during the day. Now the sharing out of the meat
take place. For this a large bamboo platform is constructed, the bala’ kaan (the counterpart of the
gorang tower in the bua’ ceremony). A to minaa priest first makes small commemorative
offerings meat to the ancestors, then the flesh of the slaughtered buffaloes is apportioned
according to the rank and status of those present.
 The ritual ground comes alive, as other dance troupes join join the badong dancers.
Buffalo fights are organized; food an palm wine are in plentiful supply. The following day these
are cock-fights. Sometimes the mortal remains of the deceased stay for a considerable time on
the rante; sometimes they are buried rather sooner. Burial, however, is not strictly the correct
term, as the body is either placed in a a crypt, or in a burial chamber in the form of a Toraja
house. In the later case, the tau-tau is placed with the corpse in the chamber. The crypts are cut
out of rock cliffs and are family graves. The cutting out of these family crypts is heavy and
unhealthy work, carried out by specialists, who live in acertain region.

Finally, the deceased is brought to his or her last resting place: ‘the house from which no
smoke emerges’. ‘Grandfather, whither goest Thou, who, all finely clad, perhaps hast enetered
the house from which no smoke climbs?’ Badong song (Noov-Palm 1986: 263).