Types of Dance and music in Tana Toraja

Ma'badong a ritual where a group of men and women form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honor the deceased.

in fact, Torajans perform dances on various occasions. some dances could be performed on both rambu tuka' or rambu solo'. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree. This dance can be performed only once every 12 years.

Dance is very important during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honor and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife.

Ma'badong 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.

As 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.

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 also 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.

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The origin of Toraja ethnic

The name Toraja is from To-ri-aja, it's mean "men of the mountains", the name that was given by the Bugis to the people who live on the mountains in the north of the southwest peninsula of Sulawesi.

Doctrines

The traditional religion of the Torajan people called Aluk To Dolo. To means "people", Dolo means "bygone," so the religion is "belief of the old" or "rituals of the ancestors." The religion is a complex mixture of ancestor cult, myth, and ritual. Aluk To Dolo was originally divided probably equally between a life half and a death half. The life half concerned fertility and was forbidden by the Christian missionaries, thus making the death half and the funeral of more importance as this was acceptable to the Church.
a priest knowing tribal lore and history, In major rituals the "to minaa", will recites a long litany of the origin of the tribe. The cosmos is divided into the upper world, the world of man, and the underworld. At first heaven and earth were married together and there was darkness, then came separation and light. From the marriage emerged gods. Puang Matua, " the old lord," is the god of heaven and the main deity while Pong Banggai di Rante, "the master of the plains," is the god of earth. Pong Tulak Padang carries the earth in the palms of his hands and with Puang Matua he maintains the equilibrium of earth and separates day and night. But his bad-tempered wife Indo' Ongon-ongon can cause earthquakes and upset the equilibrium. Another feared god is Pong Lalondong, "the lord who is a cock," who judges the dead. Between heaven and earth is Gaun ti Kembong, "the swollen cloud." The goddess of medicine is Indo' Belo Tumbang, "the lady who dances beautifully." There are other gods in the upper world and the underworld, and on earth there are deata, deities and ghosts, that live in rivers, wells, trees, and stones.
Man's role is to help maintain equilibrium between the upper world and the underworld by rituals. There are two divisions of rituals. The Rambu Tuka, the Rising Sun or Smoke Ascending rituals are associated with the north and east, with joy and life. This includes rituals for birth, marriage, health, the house, the community, and rice. The Rambu Solo', the Setting Sun or Smoke Descending rituals are associated with the south and west, with darkness, night, and death. Healing rituals partake of both divisions. The most important Rambu Tuka ritual is the Bua' feast in which the buraka, a priestess or hermaphrodite priest, petitions the gods of heaven to look after the community. The Merok feast is for the benefit of a large family. Rambu Solo' rituals include great death feasts at funerals conducted by the death priest. These funerals are now the main feature of Toraja religion. Display of wealth is important for Torajans believe they will live in the afterworld as they do on earth, and the souls of sacrificed animals will follow their masters to heaven.
The afterworld is Puya, "the land of souls," which is to the southwest under the earth. By a lavish death feast the deceased will reach Puya. He is judged by Pong Lalondong and then climbs a mountain to reach heaven, where he joins the deified ancestors as a constellation which guards mankind and the rice.

History
The to minaa priest recites the origin of the Toraja at important rituals. After telling of how the cosmos and the gods came into being, he recounts that the to manurum, the first nobleman, descended from heaven bringing with him food plants and animals. He also brought a heavenly house and slaves and the complete social order. This included various types of priests, the to minaa, the to buraka, who is the highest religious functionary, the rice priest, and the medicine priest. But the important death priest is not mentioned. In Torajan history there were several descents of a nobleman.
Legend, however, says that the Torajans originally came from Cambodia, arriving in a storm from the northern seas. They used their battered boats as roofs of their houses.
Until the coming of missionaries in the nineteenth century the Torajans lived in almost complete isolation, one of the fiercest and most remote people in Indonesia. Coffee growing was introduced in the last quarter of the century and this began the process of social change. It was only in 1905-6 that the Dutch gained control over the Torajan mountains. They brought many changes to Torajan life and religion. Before the Dutch the people lived in fortified villages on the top of hills. They were moved to the valleys and agriculture was expanded, taxes and Christianity introduced. Before Dutch and mission schools the people knew only an oral tradition. Fertility aspects of the religion were stopped, as was the practice of offering freshly severed human heads at the end of a funeral. Buffalo were substituted for the human heads and these are raised on a large scale for ritual purposes, as a major death feast needs a sacrifice of about a hundred buffalo.
Further change came to the Torajans with the Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945 and with the independence of Indonesia in 1945.
Despite the spread of Christianity and some Islam, there is still very strong culture, village ritual. But rituals can be mixed in with Christian practice, often in a fantastic way. For example, at The Feast of the Dead people attend church and afterwards buffalo are sacrificed.
Tourism has developed rapidly in recent years with package tours coming from France, Italy, and other countries. Tourists are mainly interested in seeing the lavish funerals and the government is encouraging the Torajans to spread the funerals through the year so that more tourists come. The government is trying to reduce the number of sacrifices at funerals by charging a local tax for animals killed past a certain number.

Symbols
Houses are shaped like boats and all face north, symbolising the legend of the origin of the Torajans as coming by sea from Cambodia in the north.
Symbols of fertility are very significant in the religion despite the efforts of the missionaries. Most important is the buffalo, which the Torajans worship as a fertility cult figure. In dances headdresses of buffalo horn or symbolic horns are worn. At the Mabua ceremony held every twelve years, priests with buffalo headdresses dance around a sacred tree. In the Manganda dance a group of men wear huge headdresses of bulls' horns and silver coins. Eels are also revered as fertility symbols.
The final resting place of the dead is the liang, a family tomb high in a cliff safe from robbers, for gold and jewels are interred with the dead. Outside the tomb there is a platform or balcony carved into the cliff and here a tau tau or wooden effigy of the dead person is placed to represent the spirit. At the funeral also, bamboo effigies are made. Monuments to ancestors in the form of tall spires can be seen in the rante, special fields once used for large funerals.
As part of the important Mabua" ceremony miniature implements of daily life are used.

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The Philosophy of Toraja traditional house

The first Toraja house was constructed in heaven by Puang Matua, the Creator, that is according to a myth in Tana Toraja. The building standing on four poles, and the roof was made of special cloth. Next, Puang Matua ordering to build another house, with iron poles and bamboo roof. When the ancestor of mankind descended to earth in the southern half of Toraja (Regency of Enrekang), he imitated the heavenly house, and a big house ceremony (Rambu tuka' ) was held for the occasion.

Tangdilino'. The former village founder of Toraja, who stay Near Mengkendek (southern Toraja), a house was built that had a roof with its two ends bending upwards. This particular form is explained in various ways. The first story stresses resemblance to a boat - since, according to myth, the ancestors of the Toraja people came by boat from the Mekong Delta in South China - the second story says that the arch-shaped roof looks like the sky. This is, indeed, reflected in some prayers by the ancient animistic belief Aluk Todolo.

according to the history of tana toraja, only the noble people who have the right to build such a beatiful house (tongkonan). The most important noble houses were the seats of political power for local rulers who dominated small groups of villages. Each of these families has a long past, full of myths, mystery, and ancestral achievement. All noble families, of course, have a significant history to justify their claim to wealth and status, whereas most ordinary people live in undecorated houses - mostly bamboo shacks - called banua. Sometimes the status associated with a tongkonan and the people who are allowed to inhabit these houses, varies according to the different areas within Toraja itself.

Three different types of tongkonans can be distinguished. The first is called tongkonan layuk, which belongs to the highest adat authorities. This type of tongkonan used to be the centre of government - a position that even today seems to be respected. The second kind is the tongkonan pekamberan, which belongs to the family clan and group members surrounding the adat functionaries. The third kind is called the tongkonan batu, and belongs to the ordinary people (i.e. not adat functionaries).

The style of the tongkonans has changed slightly over time. The oldest surviving structures are generally small, with only a small curve to the roof. As the house came to embody aristocratic ambitions, it was gradually built higher and the curve of the extended eaves has become more and more exaggerated. As a consequence, the living space inside the tongkonan was reduced due to increased prestige and status, as the exterior of the house grew to be more colourful and exuberant in appearance.

Many house carving designs are derived from plant and animal motifs. The names of these designs are reminiscent of everyday life, and very humble, for instance, pumpkin vines. Water plants and animals such as crabs, tadpoles, water weeds, and so forth are a sign of fertility. The trailing water plants, lusciously growing in all directions, are often depicted because they are able to multiply rapidly, while still clinging to the central stem. It is hoped that the house descendents will also be numerous and stick to the family clan. Other carvings represent buffaloes, heirloom embellishments or heavy ears of rice. All of these motifs are connected to the desired wealth and abundance. The main wall poles, on the front of the tongkonan, are always decorated with stylised buffalo heads. On the top of the façade, in the gable triangle, there are images of beetle nut and sunbursts, since some take this part of the tongkonan to represent the Heavens. Of course, being the mediator between earth and heaven, cocks are always a part of the decorations. The most mysterious of all creatures that is sometimes found on the front of a tongkonan is the so-called katik, a big, long-necked bird with a crest on top of its head. This is either a cock, or a mythical bird of the forests. Some, however, claim this is a hornbill, the image of which is often used all over South-East Asia.

The layout of the Toraja Traditional houses is imbued with symbolic meaning. The orientation of the tongkonans has cosmological connotations, and the design of the carved decorations on the front has symbolic significance since it contains a variety of messages about social hierarchy and structure, and the relations to the world of the spirits.

As described above, the creator Puang Matua is associated with the North, and therefore the tongkonan must also face North. The South of the house is associated with the afterworld (heaven, or Puya) and the ancestors. The West and the East are associated with the left and right hands of the human body, but also with the world of the gods (East) and the ancestors in their deified form (West).
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