Tongkonan Toraja (Traditional House of Toraja)

Tongkonan Toraja is the most noticeable thing about Toraja. Tana Toraja is one of the little places in Indonesia where traditional structures still being built until present, other than for the benefit of tourists. The most distinctive feature of the toraja houses is their saddle shaped roofs, with each end shooting high into the sky.

Legend ties the shape of the roofs to the origins of the Torajans. Their tradition is that they originated in the mountains of present-day Vietnam. Thousands of years ago, they began a voyage southward. After a couple of years island hopping south, they came to Sulwesi. They made their way by boat up the Sa'dan River as far as present day city of Enrekang, then continued to follow the river on foot to their present valley home. They bought their boats with them, and hung them between trees for shelter. From the shape of the boat supposedly comes the shape of the elaborate Torajan roofs, to remind them of their roots.

The roofs are made of pieces of arm-length sticks of bamboo split in half and stacked in an interlocking style very similar to terra cotta tile roofs the world over. Modern houses may have sheet-metal roofs, but they maintain the same shape, and even use carved wood panels on the under-side to mimic the shape of the traditional bamboo.
Traditional Village
The detailed designs painted on a rice barn.


Tongkonan houses always face north. The interior typically has just three rooms. In the center is the largest room, used as the living area. To the south is the room where the family sleeps, and keeps any dead they haven't buried yet. A small room at the north end is usually reserved for guests. The floors of the north and south rooms is usually slightly higher than the floor of the main room.

The exterior walls are made of wood panels. These are always etched and painted. Most of the patterns are geometric designs, although representations of people, animals and other objects can also be seen. You'll note throughout Tana Toraja that only four colors are used to decorate houses: Black, white, red and yellow. The colors represent, in essence, death or darkness, holy purity, blood and wisdom. The north end of the house will usually have a carved buffalo head on it as well. The pole supporting the north end of the roof may also have a row of buffalo horns affixed to it. This is taken as a sign of wealth.

Facing each tongkonan house will be one or more rice barns, built in the same basic shape but much smaller. Like the houses, the rice barn is raised well off the ground to keep the rice free from damp. The poles supporting the rice barn are kept very smooth to keep away rats and other climbing vermin. As with the houses, the outside walls of the rice barns are engraved and painted. The rice barns can be pre-fabricated off-site and bought to the site by pick-up. There are workshops near the woodworkers village of Ke'te Kesu where you can see rice barns being built. You can even order one to go!

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distinctive food and beverage in tana toraja, Indonesia

Tana Toraja has its own distinctive foods, just like many regions of Indonesia. However, the foods of Toraja are a little more different than most, due mainly to the fact that the vast majority of them are Christian. So, you have such delicacies as a braised pork blackened by a special spice found only in Toraja, washed down with some palm wine. Other delicacies include meat (usually chicken) cooked in bamboo and coffee.
Unfortunately, there are very few restaurants outside of hotels in Tana Toraja. There are stalls and small roadside eateries catering mostly to locals, but these are generally only for the 'hygienically adventurous', as one guidebook author puts it. The one restaurant that seems to serve local foods to foreigners is Celebes, located a little north of Rantepao. ....Read More...

How uniqueThe Burial Traditiion of Tana Toraja

The Toraja Tribe of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, is known for the cheerful way of treating death, and its unique burial grounds carved in sheer rock.

There are plenty of tourist destinations area in Indonesia. One of them, and the most beautiful tourist destinations of Indonesia, the green hills of South Sulawesi are home to the Highland of Toraja, a tribe that still honors the old Austronesian lifestyle. Most people in Tana Toraja are Christians, converted during Dutch colonization, but traces of their old beliefs still remain and are most visible during funeral festivities and burial customs. The Toraja are obsessed with death, but not in a tragic sense; to them, funerals are a lot like going-away parties celebrated by sacrificing dozens of buffaloes and pigs for a feast enjoyed by the entire community.

The main concern of a Toraja tribe member is to make sure he raises enough money so the family can held a big funeral ceremony, when one of the family leaves this world. Their bodies are stored under the family home for years after their death. During this time the remaining relatives refer to that person not as “the deceased” but as “the sick”, and raise money for the actual funeral, which is usually attended by hundreds of guests. Tourists are welcome to attend the festivities, as long as they don’t wear black or red.

While churches dot the Toraja countryside, tribe members are rarely buried in the ground. They are either placed in tombs dug into nearby cliffs, or in wooden coffins hanging on the side of mountains. Lemo, one of the most popular burial sites in the area, looks like a big piece of rock Swiss cheese, with holes carved to fit coffins and balconies for the “tau tau” – life-size wooden effigies representing the deceased. In the old days, effigies only showed the deceased’s gender, but now master carvers try to make them look like the actual person. After the body has been placed in its rock tomb, the dead’s effigy is placed along others, in a carved balcony, so his spirit can watch over his descendants. Unfortunately, so many tau tau effigies have been stolen to be sold to tourists that people have started to keep them in their house.

At Ke’te’ kesu’, the dead are not placed in cliff-dug graves, but in wooden caskets hanging from the side of cliffs. The coffins are beautifully decorated with geometrical shapes, but over time the wood begins to rot and the bleached bones of the deceased often exposed. Some Toraja members are so resourceful that they pack the bones of several family members into a single coffin, which eventually causes the sustaining poles to break under the weight. But, judging by the piles of wood and bones at the bottom of the suspended burial ground, this doesn’t seem to bother anyone.

The smallest of the Toraja burial grounds are the “Baby Trees” where the tribe’s young are placed. If a child dies before he has started teething, its mother wraps his body in cloth, makes a another hole in the Baby Tree and places the dead infant inside. The hole is then sealed and as the tree begins to heal, the child is believed to be absorbed.

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Toraja funeral ceremony

Who does not know with Tana Toraja, a country with so many customs and very beautiful tourist destination. Tana Toraja, is 300 kilometers from Makassar, South Sulawesi, host various cultural customs and ancestors who bequeathed by their forefathers, and remain stable until now.

Any descendants of the Toraja, wherever they are, must uphold the cultural roots of their forefathers. Until now, children and grandchildren of Tana Toraja ethnic who live abroad and other parts of Indonesia, will keep doing the same tradition that made by their ancestors thousands of years ago.

Their obedience in carrying out the customs and cultural heritage of their fathers until now, attracted many foreign and domestic tourists to visit Tana Toraja each year. Tana Toraja, now becomes one of prime tourist areas owned by the South sulawesi. Various ceremonies held by Toraja people and held every year, become a magnet for foreign tourists.

There are various traditional ceremonies in Tana Toraja, one of them is Rambu Solo', funeral ancestors who had died several years earlier. the event consists of Sapu Randanan, and Tombi Saratu '. In addition, the ceremony also known Ma'nene and Rambu Tuka' ceremony.

The Rambu Tuka' ceremony and Rambu Solo' accompanied with dance and typical Toraja music for days. Rambu Tuka' is a ceremony to enter a new custom house called Tongkonan or renovated homes once in 50 or 60 years. This ceremony is known as Ma'Bua ', Meroek, or Mangrara Banua Sura'.

Meanwhile, Rambu Solo look like a big party. In fact, a funeral procession. In the custom of Tana Toraja, families left behind must hold a feast as a sign of their last respects to the deceased. People who died regarded as a sick man and should be cared for and treated like living people, providing food, beverages, and tobacco or betel nut.

Not only the traditional rituals that are found in the ceremony of Rambu Solo '. A variety of interesting cultural activities, will be shown, among others Mapasilaga Tedong (buffalo fighting) and Sisemba (foot race).

Rambu Solo' 'will be more lively if the deceased was derived from royal or the rich people. Number of buffaloes and pigs will be sacrificed to measure their level of wealth and degrees while still alive. In Rantepao, you can see a festive Rambu Solo' ceremony.

Development of a family tomb for the deceased and the holding Rambu Solo' usually cost hundreds of millions to billions of dollars. No wonder, because many traditional rituals which they should run in the funeral procession.

One of the great Rambu Solo' ceremony, lasted up to seven days. Like what they called Dipapitung Bongi. Animals that must be cut just no fewer than 150 head, consisting of buffalos and pigs. The meat will be distributed to the villagers who help the process of Rambu Solo '.

The ceremony which attracted foreign tourists and local tourists are buffalo fighting or commonly called Ma'pasilaga Tedong. before the buffalo pitted, there will be a buffalo parade. Buffalo is an animal that is considered sacred to the Toraja people. A Caucasian or an albino price will be very expensive, reaching hundreds of millions dollars. There is also a buffalo that has black spots on his back called saleko and black on the back (lotong boko').

The procession of buffalo sacrificing on the style of Toraja, Ma'tinggoro tedong is the next activity, where the buffalo will be cut down by a machete with a single slash. Getting late, the buffalo fighting will be more crowded because the buffalo that will be pitted is a buffalo who already have fighting experience dozens of times.

Rambu Solo' reflects the lives of Tana Toraja people who love the mutual assistance, mutual help, kinship, have social strata, and respect for parents.

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walking corpses in Tana Toraja

Long time ago in a cave at the village of Sillanan, human corpses had been found intact, do not decay until now. The corpse was not embalmed like the Egyptian people nor given a potion Ancient or anything. But it could remain intact. On the Local people opinion, there is the possibility of such a substance in the Cave of the properties that can preserve human bodies. If only there were geological and chemical experts who would waste time investigating the place, presumably Sillanan cave enigma can be solved. In addition to anti-rotten corpses, there is also a human body that can walk on two legs, like a living person. If you want to find also the difference, there are a different, but not so obvious. Perhaps according to local people, the corpse walk stiffly and somewhat jerky. And the corpse could not walk alone, it must be accompanied by a live person who escorted him, until the final destination of their own homes. Why should it?
this is the story.
Toraja people used to roam the mountainous areas and steep ravines by walking. From ancient times till today remain so. They do not know the cart, wagon, cart or something like that. Well in the course of the heavy trips likely to fall ill and die is always could happen. In order not to be left in the an unknown area (Toraja people respect the spirit of every person who died) and also not to bother other people (will be very unlikely to carry the body continuously along the journey that took many days), then by one magic, perhaps a kind of hypnotism under the terms of today, the bodies are required to go home on foot and only stopped when he had put his body in his own house. And just imagine, the body knows the way, and know which house! Nevertheless there is still one taboo: walking dead should not be touched. Maybe if touched by the miracle that run it will immediately disappears. Who knows.
The last oddity that is not so amazing was "Ballo" (palm wine), which is not intoxicating if drink it, no matter how much you drank. Beside could heating the body, this palm wine, which is mixed with the bark decoction, also could add energy and prolong life. It may be true, since the age of the population there would average 80 to 100 years. Will the palm wine has the same effect if taken outside the Toraja? never been tried.

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