The ritual begins with a sacrifice, usually a ram or a buffalo or a pig is killed. This sacrifice should provide the deceased person with a way to Puya - this is the afterlife. When the animal is slaughtered, boys run around it and try to catch blood streams in bamboo tubes. In addition, a pair of roosters is cut as a symbol of the sacred land. At the funeral, people do not see the body, it is placed in a cave, and a wooden doll called “tau-tau” is put on public display. Sometimes the coffin is hung on a rock, and it hangs there for several years, until the moment when the rope bends and cracks.
If a person died in the wrong city where he was born, then he was literally carried home. That's why earlier people and did not leave their villages.
Note that this tradition is already outdated and is not performed now. But that's not all strange customs Indonesians. They have a tradition once every couple of years to get the dead out of the coffin, wash his body and change his clothes. Sometimes they even replace the coffin itself. This tradition is observed by the Toraja people.
A creepy burial ritual is practiced by black magicians in cities in Indonesia. Now this burial ritual in Indonesia is already fading away, but before this tradition was observed quite often and goes back as far as 1905. This type of burial can be literally translated as follows: "The corpse goes to the cemetery by itself"
Bodies and coffins are buried far in the mountains, knocking out niches in the rock, and placing the bodies there. According to an old Indonesian tradition, relatives come to the sorcerer, who must revive the body of the deceased and send him last way. The dead man walks on his own, and the sorcerer walks behind him, with the condition that no one should touch the dead man, touching it, the dead body will fall and will not rise again.
The Toraya tribe lives in southern Sulawesi, Indonesia, and is famous for this macabre way of burying the dead. Even if we consider that many members of the Toraya tribe are Christians, they remember the faith of their ancestors. Funerals in the tribe are carried out very magnificently, huge donations are made, more than ten buffaloes and pigs are slaughtered. The whole life of the family is saved up for a decent funeral, never forgetting about it, such is the faith and lifestyle. There are times when bodies of the dead lie in their house for many years after death. Sometimes the bodies of the dead are kept in the house for many years after their death. The attitude of his relatives to the lying deceased is regarded as the sick, not the dead. All this time, while he is lying, relatives are saving money, because a worthy Indonesian funeral must take place with invited people, there must be at least two hundred of them. If tourists are invited, then it is obligatory for them to dress in red or black clothes. Only the richest and most prosperous families can afford to bury a relative in the ground, it is extremely expensive and almost inaccessible to an ordinary citizen.
The whole world knows what a cemetery in Indonesia looks like. The tombs are located on the rock, who is richer buries in coffins, who is poor, knocks out a niche in the rock and puts the remains in it. Among these rocks there are the most sought-after, from afar, somewhere similar to our columbar niches.
Also, not far from the place of burial, a tau-tau is usually placed - a carved effigy made of wood of natural size, which personifies the dead. In ancient times, only the gender of the deceased could be recognized by tau-tau, but now tau-tau carvers make a stuffed animal as similar as possible to the dead. Tau-tau are usually placed in carved niches, similar to our loggias, so that the spirit of the buried person can look at the descendants. But, such figurines are now the prey of thieves, they are bought by tourists. To avoid theft, relatives leave tau-tau in the house of the deceased. Coffins with the dead, who have no place in the rock, are hung directly on the rock. They decorate the coffin geometric shapes, at first everything is beautiful, but over the years, the wood of the coffin rots, the bones of the dead become visible. It's sad, to be honest..
The poor can bury their relative in the coffin of already dead ancestors. It is economical to bury in one coffin, the ropes holding the coffin break after a while, half-rotten coffins fall to the foot of the cliff, the remains remain falling, no one comes and does not repair, does not restore. That's the way it is, don't worry about it.
If a child dies, a special lot is used for his funeral. ancient tree. That's what they call him" baby tree". In such trees, babies are buried whose teeth have not yet erupted on the day of death, the baby is wrapped in a woven sheet, a hollow is made in a tree and the body is placed in it. It is considered correct to seal the hollow. just the time when the tree swallows the child.
on an indonesian island Sulawesi, among the picturesque mountains lives a people who call themselves toraji and practicing animism. These people believe that everything in the world has a soul - not only animals and plants, but even inanimate objects and natural phenomena. Associated with this belief are funeral rituals Toraji - one of the most unusual and bizarre on our planet.
Babies who die before their teeth erupt are buried in tree trunks, while mummies from decades ago are put on display.
A funeral for a Toraja is an extremely important social event, an occasion for relatives to get together, for villagers to strengthen or renew good neighborly relations. These rituals are carried out in strict accordance with the traditions and beliefs of the ancestors. And such funerals continue for a long time.
When a representative of the Toraja people dies, the family of the deceased conducts several days of funeral ceremonies, but they do not begin immediately. The fact is that an ordinary family, as a rule, cannot quickly raise the funds necessary for the funeral.
We have to postpone them for weeks, months, and even for years - until a sufficient amount can be accumulated. All this time, the deceased lies embalmed in a specially designated room under the same roof with the living members of his family. Until all the ceremonies are carried out in accordance with all the rules, a person is not considered dead, but simply sick.
As soon as the required amount is collected, the ceremonies begin. The first step is to slaughter buffaloes and pigs under ritual dances. The more powerful the deceased was, the more cattle are slaughtered in his honor - sometimes the score goes to tens and hundreds.
Graves are hollowed out in the rocky mountains and decorated with wooden images of the dead.
After that, it comes directly to the burial, but the people of Toraj very rarely bury their dead in the ground. Most often, the bodies are placed in niches hollowed out in the mountains, or wooden coffins are hung in the rocks.
Graves carved into the mountains are very expensive, they take several months to make. Hanging coffins are usually richly decorated, but over time the wood begins to rot and the bones fall down.
For the burial of infants who died before the appearance of teeth. Toraja has a special tradition. Their bodies are wrapped in cloth and placed in holes made in the trunks of living growing trees, which are then covered with palm fiber doors and sealed.
After a while, the tree begins to heal the “wound”, absorbing a small body. There can be more than a dozen such graves in one tree.
After the deceased is buried, the feast begins. Then everyone goes home. But the funeral rituals are not over. Every year, in August, a ritual called "manene" takes place. The bodies of the dead are removed, washed and dressed in new clothes. After that, the mummies "walk" throughout the village like zombies..
The strange burial rituals of the Toraja attract many tourists and anthropologists to the island every year. Since 1984, Tana Toraja has been the second most popular destination in Indonesia after Bali.
The funeral ceremony in Tana Toraja belongs to the category of rambusolo - sad ceremonies (in literal translation "descending smoke"). According to the Toraja religion Aluk Todolo, which is based on the cult of ancestors, the ceremony is obligatory.
The procedure of the ceremony is the same regardless of the caste to which the deceased belonged. The funeral is carried out in several stages: first, the coffin with the body is carried around the village, then numerous relatives come to say goodbye, later animals are sacrificed - the Toraj believe that their souls will move with the soul of the deceased to paradise, and, finally, the body is buried. For the ceremony, the body is required. If the body is not found, the person is not considered dead. The body is not cremated, they are buried either in a house-grave - an analogue of our crypt, or in a stone grave.
The funeral ceremony is presented to tourists as the main attraction, something special, incomprehensible, supernatural, requiring a mandatory visit. Indeed, once at the ceremony, many do not understand what is happening. Crowds of people in black, squealing animals, men with machetes and carcasses of dead buffaloes in the blood. The guides chant the memorized phrases “now they will sacrifice the most expensive buffalo, stand to the left, it will be better seen.” Tourists shudder and hastily take pictures against the backdrop of "something-there-terrible." At the end, everyone gets on the bus and goes to the hotel for dinner. To get information, you need not only to get to the “correct” funeral - a person from the iron or gold caste, but also to find a guide who can on a good English language explain what happens when.
I arrived in Rantepao, the center of Tana Toraja, on the evening of the first day of the funeral of Ala’ Baan, 87, a policeman from the iron caste. The ceremony in the village of Kanuruan took four days, there were five hundred guests, 24 buffalo were sacrificed - that's how much you need to get permission to wooden statue the deceased - tau tau.
The body was not buried for six months - just how long it took the family to raise funds for the organization of the funeral. Previously, the procedure was carried out in two stages. 1-2 months after death, a small ceremony dialuk pia, a year later, when enough money has been collected, rante - a funeral in the burial field for the burial of noble people. The term can reach three years, but only for the noble. A person from the lower, wooden caste is buried in a week.
From the moment of physical death, a person is not considered dead, but only sick. They bring him food, cigarettes for men, betels for women. For the body to be stored for a long time, formalin injections are made. The body is stored in the south room of the traditional Toraja tongkonan house. To accommodate relatives and friends who came to pay tribute to the deceased, temporary houses are built.
On the first day of the funeral, the body is taken out of the house and carried through the village so that the residents can say goodbye to the deceased. This procedure is called ma'palao or ma'pasonglo. On this day, one buffalo is sacrificed. Then the coffin with the body is moved to a special la’kian building - it has two floors, at the top there is a place for the coffin and relatives, at the bottom there are tables for stewards who manage the process. 
On the second day, everyone comes to say goodbye to the deceased. They gather in groups at the entrance to the village, bring gifts with them - rice, betel, bolok - vodka, pigs and, of course, buffaloes. Gifts are nominal, and you will have to thank them later. If another family brought a piglet to your family's funeral, then a piglet. If a buffalo, then a buffalo. The guide joked that so many things were brought to the funeral in his family that he could only hope that this year no one would die in the families of friends. Close relatives also bring gifts. Who can. One of the daughters of the deceased famous singer– brought five buffaloes. But if a person cannot afford a buffalo, no one will reproach him. Previously, the inheritance was divided depending on the brought. And now, in fairness, who needs it more, because. there were other opportunities for the Toraja to make money. Later, the family will meet and decide what to do with the gifts. How many buffaloes will be sacrificed, how many will be sold to cover the cost of the funeral, how many will be left. 
The most expensive buffalo is tied at the simbuang, a tree trunk dug into the ground. After the funeral is over, a megalith can be installed in this place. 
Another buffalo is sacrificed and the visiting day is declared open. 
The guests are led to ma'doloanni - the steward manager, dressed unlike everyone else, not in black, but in red and yellow striped pants and a shirt and a white shawl. He has a spear in one hand and a shield in the other. He jumps from foot to foot and shouts something like "yo-ho-ho" - thanks to the guests for coming to the funeral. Guests - in a column of two or one after another, first the oldest - follow him to langtang pa'pangnganan - the reception house, sit down there and wait for refreshments. At the door of langtang pa'pangnganan, they are met by the granddaughters of the deceased in traditional beaded funeral clothes. 
A treat - rather an offering - consists of two parts. First, the deceased's family members and volunteers bring cigarettes and betels, and it is important that the cigarettes and betels from the golden bowl of piring pangngan are given to the oldest guests in the group. A man gives cigarettes to a man, a woman gives betel to a woman. Then the female assistants bring water in pengkokoan - glasses decorated with beads to rinse the mouth after betel (also for the oldest), as well as cookies, tea, coffee. In parallel, male pa'badong dancers wearing identical T-shirts that say "condolences to the family of the deceased" are dancing traditional dance ma'badong and chant the biography of the deceased. Both men and women can dance, but men danced at this funeral, because. there were many guests and all the women helped in the kitchen. 
And so the whole day. One group of guests, the second, the third. The last to arrive at the langtang pa'pangnganan were the women who worked in the kitchen, and the betel and food were brought to them by men dressed in women's clothing. This is not a tradition, more of a joke. The last dance is danced by members of the family of the deceased, expressing sadness that they are in last time together that in a few days they would not see him again. The family hopes that in paradise, the deceased will become a demigod and return to help them with their daily chores.
The meat of the sacrificed buffalo, as well as the meat of the sacrificed pigs, are cooked for dinner. The meat is finely cut, stuffed with bamboo trunks and cooked over a fire. The dish is called pa'piong. It is served with stewed beans, vegetables, rice, cookies. After dinner, entertainment is arranged - a buffalo fight. There is no time to cry and mourn on this day. 
The third day - the day of the sacrifice of buffaloes and the day of the visit of the funeral by a Christian priest - officially all Toraj are Christians of different orientations. There are Catholics, there are Protestants, there are Adventists. The Protestant priest had to wait, about which many joked that, they say, an important person. A woman came, sang a hymn, read a prayer, collected money for the upkeep of the church and left. She also prayed for those who had to bury the deceased on the fourth day, so that they would become strong and be able to carry the coffin, located in a small traditional house on a stretcher, to the place of burial. The weight of the structure is about half a ton.
Protestant Church does not prohibit sacrifice. The main thing is that it should not be financially difficult for the family. There is a Pentakosta church in Rantepao, it teaches not to make sacrifices, but the church is not popular. Culture will die, and there will be no tourists, the guide said.
After the departure of the priest, ten buffaloes were brought to the place of sacrifice. In addition to the belief that their souls will go to heaven with the deceased, there is also a pragmatic moment in the sacrifice. Buffalo meat and pig meat are distributed to all people who helped organize the funeral, as they helped for free. The cost of one pig is from 100 to 400 dollars, the cost of a buffalo is from 1200 and more, buffaloes of a rare breed can cost half a million. Chickens are not sacrificed at the funeral ceremony, but at the happy ceremonies of rambutuka ("rising smoke") - a wedding, new house- Necessarily. It is possible to eat chicken meat during the storage of the body and the funeral, but you need to buy it on the side. 
On the fourth day, the relatives move the coffin with the body to the house grave. There are two designations in the Toraja language: the colloquial panane and the ceremonial banua tangmerambu, "house without smoke." During the transfer of the body, relatives may push each other to show who is stronger, to show their love and care for the deceased. They seem to be arguing where to bury him, in the house grave of the husband's or wife's family, although everything has long been decided.
Caring for the deceased does not stop even after burial. Despite Christianity, people believe in the old traditions. Food and gifts are brought to the grave. If they forgot to put something in the coffin, they may see in a dream that the deceased is asking for it. Then in mid-August, after harvesting, you can get permission from tomina - a priest traditional religion to open the coffin, dress the deceased in new clothes and bring him what he wants. To do this, you need to sacrifice another buffalo or two or three pigs. 
July 25-27 will be the funeral of a man from the golden caste. If someone decides to go, the phone number of Joni and the hotel in Rantepao is +62 81 342 141 169.
Hooray, today we will go to the most interesting area of the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia - a region called Tana Toraja with a unique architecture of houses, the cult of ancestors and famous funeral ceremonies. All this is still ahead of us.
How to get to Tana Toraja.
By bus to Tana Toraja.
Before Tana Toraja there is no railway, no planes (at least regular ones). Of public transport, only buses remain, but even here it is not so simple. We have sifted through a lot of information on this issue on the Internet in case hitchhiking in Sulawesi fails again, and here's what we found out.
The fact is that there is no one bus station in Makassar, from where buses to Tana Toraja would depart. Each bus company has a separate station along Jl. Urip Sumoharjo, which is about 25 minutes drive from the city center towards the airport. However, buses of all these companies pass by Daya Bus Terminal, from where it is easy to leave in the direction we need both in the morning around 9:00-10:00 and in the evening 19:00-21:00.
- Travel time: 10 hours (2 hours to Pare Pare, 8 hours to Rantepao on a winding mountain road);
- Distance: 300 km;
- Ticket price: from 100,000 to 170,000 rupees (depending on class)
- Destination: the village of Rantepao.
Whatever bus company you choose, all buses are quite comfortable European type with air conditioning.
Hitchhiking to Tana Toraja.
Since we are hitchhiking in Indonesia, we got to Tana Toraji in this way.
As you remember, yesterday we stopped in the mountain town of Enerekang, where, by a “rainy” chance, we were lucky to visit one of the Indonesian families. Early in the morning, after drinking a cup of coffee and taking a couple of dozen more photos with the residents of the hospitable house, we went out onto the road towards Tana Toraja. Only now, in daylight, stunning mountain landscapes appeared to our eyes.
The very first car with some kind of gasoline barrels picked us up on the highway, so that for the next 30 km we managed to stink of the oil product through and through.
We were dropped off in the village, where a snakefruit already familiar to us was found on passing trade counters.
Naturally, we couldn't just pass by.
Here the traffic flow has significantly decreased, so we stood on the road for a long time before a passenger car slowed down in front of us. The driver knew a couple of words in English, but in his eyes it was clearly read that he wants to earn extra money on “lost souls”. We immediately made it clear to him that this would not work with us. Then the man said that he would be able to take us free of charge only to the entrance to the Tana-Toraja region, where he should pick up his family. We agreed.
Tana Toraja (Country of Toraja) is a mountain plateau behind the pass, located at an altitude of 800 m above sea level. This mountainous area is a system of valleys, which is locked by a pass. It is here that the Toraji people (mountain dwellers) live.
So the passenger car stopped exactly at the entrance gate to the region inhabited by mountaineers. The gates themselves are already delightful, so we were rather eager to get to the place.
Andrey took advantage of the opportunity and climbed onto the gate to take a closer look at the sculpture and the roof of the “boat”.
Map of attractions in Tana Toraja.
Google has a hard time locating attractions in Tana Toraja. Therefore, I will simply post a photo of a paper guide here (click to open big size), which we photographed from the Austrians. By the way, we used it ourselves. In fact, if you drive along the main Makale-Rantepao highway, then along the way there will be signs to one place or another. Some places like Sirope we examined.
The sights of Tana Toraja that we saw.
Funeral ceremony.
People go to Tana Toraju mainly to watch the funeral ceremony, which is held in the summer. We traveled through Tana Toraja in March, so we did not manage to see the magnificent ceremony.
In short, for the Toraja, a funeral is a very important ceremony, perhaps even too important. Because the family of the deceased (depending on the status) must accumulate an incredible amount of money in order to bury their relative with all honors. For this reason, the body of the latter waits for burial for up to several years. What is the “funeral” money spent on, for which a family can work for half a lifetime? At the feast and several dozen bull heads, which are cut at the ceremony in front of everyone. I don't even know if I would like to attend or not.
Yes, the traditions here are a little strange, despite the fact that formally the Taraji are considered Muslims and Christians.
We just drove around the most interesting (for us) sights of the Tana-Toraja plateau. In fact, there are a lot of tourist trails and places here, many of them are quite similar, so it makes no sense to bypass them all, especially if there is no time for this. Between the points we hitchhiked on local transport. For local residents- This real joy, ride white man in the cab or back of your truck, make a detour to relatives and friends so that the whole village knows about it.
I understand that this mode of transportation is not suitable for everyone, so it's easier to rent a bike, as a couple of Europeans we met along the way did. We learned from them that renting a bike for a day costs them 100,000 rupees.
And now, let's go through the list of those places that we managed to visit.
Lemo stone graves.
Lemo stone graves are located 12 km south of Rantepao. The driver of the last car that took us to Tana Toraji dropped us off there.
Lemo in translation means “orange”, since the stone hill, in the slopes of which graves are carved, resembles this particular fruit in its shape to the locals. Let it be so!
To get closer to the aforementioned rock, you need to overcome the ticket office and rice fields.
Ticket price for Lemo stone caves: 20,000 rupees.
Since we have not yet got used to the new environment, we decided to purchase a ticket for one for two. Namely, at first I went alone for a ticket and walked along the narrow path of the Lemo rock cemetery, which brought me to some kind of hut.
And then Andrei, bypassing the ticket office, did the same thing, taking my ticket just in case if they suddenly ask. However, no one checks the ticket at the caves, and the cashier has disappeared altogether in an unknown direction.
There is nowhere to go there, despite the fact that there are about 80 burial caves in the rock. Most are carved at such a height that they cannot be approached without a ladder.
And the caves are guarded by such dolls of dead families. Looks a little creepy.
At the cash desk at the exit there are souvenir shops where you can buy something similar in the form of a figurine.
Stone graves are considered almost the most ancient burial places in Sulawesi, so it is not surprising that the place is so popular among tourists.
Caves of Londa
Another ancient cemetery, but already in the caves, is located 6 km closer to Rantepao than Lemo and is called Londa. In fact, these are all the same burials, only now inside the cave complex. The name of the place was transferred from the village of the same name nearby.
There are again rice fields in front of the entrance to the cave, the place outside is quite picturesque.
And when approaching, we again see a balcony with wooden figures of the dead, called the local Tau-Tau.
This place already makes thousands of goosebumps run through the body, because the burials themselves are inside dark cave, and inside without a lantern there is nothing to do.
Guides with kerosene lamps stand on the stone stairs at the entrance. Ticket price (for a guide and a lantern) - 30,000 rupees. But we managed to get inside for free. How? Yes, they just asked the local guys to go with them.
Inside the cave, coffins, bones, skulls are just everywhere, locals do not hesitate to take pictures with almost every dead person. So I imagined how we are photographed with grave monuments in our cemetery.
I was surprised that despite the appropriate atmosphere, the smell is not musty, and does not smell like anything. In general, for an amateur.
Rantepao. False entry.
After inspecting all the rock cemeteries, the day began to decline towards evening, and since Rantepao is within easy reach from Londa, we went there in another truck with wind in our hair.
There is nothing much to see in the city itself, except for various souvenir shops, and a mixture of architecture of private houses.
We had dinner in a passing tavern cart - it is usually a small wooden box with a couple of dishes to choose from (rice or noodles), but at a fairly low price. We were satisfied with a couple of servings of fried rice at 6,000 rupees per serving. Here, another culinary miracle was discovered, which was not found on other islands - a sweet thick flatbread with various fillings. In local it sounds like “tranbulan” (round or full moon in translation). Very tasty! Andrey even tried to ask for the recipe, but at the local it turned out to be incomprehensible. Just a cake costs 5,000 rupees, and then, depending on the filling, 8,000 - 20,000 rupees.
After dinner, walking along the road, we were already beginning to think about lodging for the night, when suddenly a small bike with a girl slowed down next to us. She asked a couple of questions about who we were and where we came from and offered us accommodation. We refused, referring to the fact that we are traveling with a tent. To which the girl said that housing is free. Andrei looked at her incredulously and asked if she was lying. The girl assured that she lives with her family and invites us to visit. After looking around her bike, we said that the three of us, but with backpacks, would not fit there. Not at a loss, the girl indicated where we needed to go on foot, it was not far.
Once in place, we already sensed something was wrong, seeing a too “combed” a private house and some foreigner on the veranda. So it is, the girl invited to the “home stay”, now it is commonly called that. That is, the family lives in a house where they rent a room for visitors. We “politely” refused, and hung out in the yard for a while to figure out what to do next. Nearby grew a tree with pomelo fruit, and while we thought about it, we chewed on a freshly picked fruit.
As a result, they got to some kind of Catholic church. And we decided to look for the owner in order to put up a tent near the obviously unused premises. But it turned out that my father wrote us into his house, settling us in the part where the renovation was going on, and also fed us dinner in the form of noodles.
In the morning we woke up from the noise, it was on the street that the teacher was building schoolchildren. Saying goodbye to the owner, we tried to quietly leave the house so as not to attract the attention of children, otherwise we would not get rid of the “photo”.
Abandoned rock cemetery Sirope.
In the morning after the next day, after buying half a kilo of sweet and sticky longan (Indonesian fruit) in the market, we set off to explore the new places of Tana Toraja. You know how foreigners love to walk around with paper guides or maps. So, on one of them we found a very curious place called Sirope, which is located 6 km north of Makale and 1 km away from main road.
The cemetery is interesting because it has been abandoned for several years, it is difficult to meet a tourist there because of its lack of promotion and a little unkempt place. But this Syrup also attracts. Therefore, the entrance there is free, as you understand.
A taxi driver gave us a free ride to Sirope, because it was on the way. A narrow road from the highway creeps slowly uphill past traditional roofs and houses, and we crawl along it. Believe it or not, we found money here again - 100,000 rupees. Indonesia has been generous to us like never before.
The cemetery is essentially not much different from what we saw in Lemo, for example.
Only in Syrup the situation is more forcing even in the daytime, some kind of “deathly” silence stands in these overgrown rocks with graves, and human bones mixed with garbage ...
Along the cliff is full of ancient wooden coffins with beautiful carvings (erongi), sometimes we meet the Tau-Tau guardians already familiar to us.
If you walk along the staircase covered with foliage, you can go to a platform with stone chairs around the perimeter.
For a long time we did not stay here, somehow not on our own.
Lake Tilanga.
This picturesque place with clear blue waters is located very close to Lemo or 10 km north of Makale. We were not going there at all, jumping into another truck to Makale, but on the way the man told us about the lake, and we turned back.
From the main road to Tilanga stomp about a couple of kilometers, but what views on the sides.
Near the lake there is a small box office, where it is written in black and white:
Price entrance ticket - 20,000 rupees.
Of course, we were not going to swim, and there was nowhere to change clothes, except to return to the toilets. But we admired the really blue water of Lake Tilanga.
And the local boys stared at us.
Apparently, one of them told the cashier about the tourists, because the latter, waving his arms in different sides, after 20 minutes he was already running towards us and probably shouting something about paying for the passage in his native language.
We have already seen everything we wanted, so perhaps it's time to go back.
Children's cemetery in Kambira (Kambira Baby Graves)
This place is located quite away from the main road, so we got to it on purpose. A small village, in the midst of a bamboo grove and forest with a pretty landscape along the way.
And behind it is a children's cemetery - just one tree in an ennobled quiet area.
You need to move from the sign on the road. We barely found the cemetery, walking along the narrow paths between the houses.
The uniqueness of the cemetery is that if the child died before his teeth erupted, then he is buried in trees that secrete juice (called milk).
Feels like the atmosphere here is different from other cemeteries in Tana Toraji. It seems to be a simple place, and the frost runs through the skin worse than in the same caves of Londa.
The passage is free, it is understandable, 10 minutes is enough here to look around.
Macale. Unsuccessful attempt to leave for the north of Sulawesi.
In Makale, the regional center of Tana-Toraji, we were already in the afternoon. We refueled with a new local dish called "bakso" - this is noodles with meat balls (something like dumplings without dough) for 10,000 rupees per serving. Then we walked around the center for a bit.
Again familiar buildings with a “boat” roof and monuments.
By the way, while we were driving along Tana Toraja, we saw catholic churches, and they are all built in their own style.
Looks pretty interesting. In general, ordinary religion is somehow intertwined here with traditions.
Toward evening we decided to leave Makale for reverse side. Here it must be said that we examined Tana-Toraja for only 2 days, since the third day was spent trying to get north. The maximum we managed to get to was the town of Palopo, after which the hitchhiking just died out. We stood for several hours on the road, but no one just wanted to take us, although there was traffic. I don’t know what it was connected with, either we were unlucky, or in that area they don’t understand what hitchhiking is. Bikers and taxi drivers stopped a couple of times, but the matter did not go beyond this. Therefore, in order not to waste time, we decided to return to Rantepao, inspect some places, and then go back to Makassar.
From Makale, we expected to drive off about 10 kilometers in total, in order to calmly put up a tent outside the city. However, we came across a truck with workers who flew all the way to Makassar. Sleeping in the back were the same workers with whom we chatted along the mountain roads all the way to Enrekang. Andrey and I didn’t have enough for more, we were very tired from the road and wanted to sleep.
So let's continue tomorrow.
Unusual rite of the Toraja tribe in Indonesia
The scenic mountainous region of South Sulawesi in Indonesia is home to ethnic group called Toraja. Greater number its members live in the regency of Tana Toraya or "land of Toraja" in the center of Sulawesi, 300 km north of Makassar, the provincial capital of South Sulawesi.
These people practice animism, the view that all non-human beings such as animals, plants, and even inanimate objects or phenomena have a spiritual essence. The tribe developed some of the most elaborate burial rites in the world.
They include a burial tree set aside for infants who died before teething, the display of mummies of relatives who died decades ago.
Toraja funeral rites are important social occasions and occasions for the whole family to gather. These events last for several days. When a Toraja representative dies, the deceased's family members must perform a series of ritual ceremonies known as Rambu Soloq over many days.
But the rites do not take place immediately after death, because the typical Toraja family often lacks the funds needed to cover funeral expenses. So they wait - weeks, months, and sometimes years, slowly accumulating funds. During this time, the deceased is not buried, but embalmed and kept in a traditional house under the same roof with his family. Until the end of the funeral ceremony, until the corpse is buried, he is not considered dead, but only suffering from an illness.
After enough funds have been accumulated, the rituals begin. First, buffaloes and pigs are slaughtered, accompanied by music and dances, during which young boys must squirt blood from long bamboo pipes. Not infrequently dozens of buffaloes and hundreds of pigs are sacrificed. After the sacrifice, the meat is distributed among the guests.
Then comes the actual burial, but members of the Toraja tribe rarely bury the dead in the ground. They place it either in caves dug into the rocky side of the mountain, or in wooden coffins that hang on the rock. The grave, as a rule, is expensive and takes several months to prepare.
Carved effigies called Tau Tau represent the deceased and are usually placed in the cave so that they look at the ground. The coffins are beautifully decorated, but over time the wood begins to rot and the bleached bones of the dead often fall to the bottom of the hanging burial ground.
Infants are not buried in caves or hanging coffins. They are placed inside hollow living trees. If the child dies before teething, they are wrapped in cloth and placed in hollowed-out spaces inside the growing tree. The hole is then sealed and the tree begins to overgrow, absorbing dead child. Dozens of children may be buried in the trunk of a single tree.
After the burial, the guests feast and return to their homes, but the rituals do not end there. Every few years, in August, the Ma "Nene ritual is held, during which the bodies of the dead are exhumed for washing, and the dead are dressed in new clothes and carried around the village like zombies.
