Y
ou’ll always find something interesting when meeting the Toraja people who live in the highest mountains of South Sulawesi in Indonesia. The word Toraja comes from the Buginese language phrase to riaja, meaning “people who inhabit the country above.”
As you take in the sweeping views of ancient limestone outcrops, you’ll notice the uniquely shaped tongkonan houses dotting the landscape. While some say the dramatically curved roofs represent buffalo horns, others say that they resemble the ships that Toraja ancestors arrived in. Real buffalo horns and pig jawbones decorate the walls of the tongkonan, along with intricate hand carvings that offer insight into understanding the community’s kinship systems.
“The tongkonan is a universe or microcosm for Toraja people,” says Arnold, a local youth who also works as a teacher. “If you want to know anything about Toraja, you should see the tongkonan.” Toraja families use tongkonan houses to trace their genealogy and visually represent their lines of ancestral descent. Kinship ties can be observed when Toraja say to each other that ‘our houses meet.’
Some families maintain tongkonan houses and rice barns (alang) that are hundreds of years old and were built by their ancestors. However, the cost of upkeep is more than many can afford, and increasingly Toraja families are letting their tongkonan fall into disrepair.
From a distance the mountains appear to be surrounded by lush green trees. As the day progresses, the sun burns off the early morning fog, revealing a clearer view of the limestone karsts that provide the final resting place for the dead. Toraja people observe elaborate funeral ceremonies that involve burying family members and relatives in cave niches on high ground. The funeral rites, known as the Rambu Solo’, are usually attended by hundreds of people and last for several days.
Arnold had mentioned many Toraja people still adhere to the local religion known as Aluk To Dolo, although many identify as Christians. The Toraja people believe that animals sacrificed at the Rambu Solo’ ritual, especially buffaloes, will carry the spirits of the dead to the world of spirits. As a result hundreds, even thousands of offerings of buffaloes, pigs, chickens, and other animals are sacrificed at this ritual.
Woven fabrics also form an important part of the funeral ceremonies. One of the sacred ikat weavings features a bright orange and blue dominant color, and is decorated with rhombuses, arrows, and diamond shapes in geometric patterns. Known alternately as Rongkong and Galumpang, the pattern represents Toraja ancestors but may be known by different names elsewhere.
Nowadays Toraja customs in South Sulawesi are administratively divided into several districts. In addition to Tana Toraja District and North Toraja District, Rongkong is well known and commonly made in Luwu District, while Galumpang is in Mamuju District. The naming conventions for woven fabrics in Toraja do not always refer to the motif, but can also refer to the place, the techniques used, and the function of the weaving. For example, Suwati Kartiwa writes that Rongkong and Galumpang are used as porisitutu or a coffin covering for a corpse.
The Rambu Solo’ ceremony is both costly and labour-intensive and can take years to prepare. As a result, the Toraja people have developed a tradition of storing and preserving bodies with special ingredients while families collect and prepare all the necessary materials. In the meantime, an unburied body is considered a “sick person.” It is kept in the house and treated like a living person, and invited to take part in conversation and meals with the family. The bodies are also wrapped in layers of woven fabric made from cotton yarn and natural dyes that are imbued with spiritual meaning, and also contribute to the mummification process.
Weaving is an important spiritual activity and is respected by the Toraja people, but only women weave the cloth. They inherit the skills and knowledge taught by their grandmother or mother. From childhood, girls are involved in the fabric-making process, starting with chopping cotton or rolling yarn. Over time they learn the complex stages of weaving.
