Tana Toraja — Land of the Dead

The start of a funeral procession in Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia. The code of cultural beliefs of the Torajan people, Aluk (“The Way”), views funerary rites as the most important part of societal life, with the dead usually transported in a miniature version of the traditional tongkonan house.

Eager attendees of the funeral wait besides tongkonan houses, which hold deep significance for Torajans, and are used in life as well as death. Funerals are seen as festive occasions, not somber ones, meant to last for days and to convey the deceased’s status in society.

A Torajan man at the funeral prepares a bull for slaughter as onlookers, most of them with no relation to the departed, await the free distributed meat. In Aluk (“The Way”) belief, one cannot enter paradise until buffalo (or pigs, for the less wealthy) are ritually sacrificed during the funeral.

Torajan children in costume prior to a funeral dance. Children are an important and common feature during funerals, representing rebirth in the next life; the motifs of their clothing convey special symbolism, as does the color white, in contrast to the traditional mourners’ black.

If the deceased is lucky, they will be immortalized as a tau tau, a wooden effigy carved in their likeness. The position of the tau tau, the specific cave in which they are placed, and above all, the species of wood used for the carving, all reflect what the deceased’s rank was in life.