The Torajans are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja (“Land of Toraja”). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk (“the way”). The Indonesian government has recognised this animistic belief as Aluk To Dolo (“Way of the Ancestors”).
The word Toraja comes from the Buginese language term to riaja, meaning “people of the uplands”, this cognates with the Toraja language to raya/to raja/to raa which also means “inland/upland people” or “northern people”. The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colourful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.
Ethnic identity
The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonisation and Christianisation, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity.
Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. “Toraja” (from the coastal languages’ to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, “Toraja” initially had more currency with outsiders such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries’ presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa’dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).
History
From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa’dan area and called Tana Toraja (“the land of Toraja”). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognised in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.
Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.
In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to Christianity.
Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognised religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism.[16] The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognised, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo (“the way of ancestors”) was legalised as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.
Language
The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa’dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.
Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae, Talondo, Toala, and Toraja-Sa’dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages.
Linguistic variety of Toraja languages
| Denominations | Population (as of) | Dialects | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kalumpang | 12,000 (1991) | Karataun, Mablei, Mangki (E’da), Bone Hau (Ta’da). | |||
| Mamasa | 100,000 (1991) | Northern Mamasa, Central Mamasa, Pattae’ (Southern Mamasa, Patta’ Binuang, Binuang, Tae’, Binuang-Paki-Batetanga-Anteapi) | |||
| Ta’e | 250,000 (1992) | Rongkong, Northeast Luwu, South Luwu, Bua. | |||
| Talondo’ | 500 (1986) | ||||
| Toala’ | 30,000 (1983) | Toala’, Palili’. | |||
| Torajan-Sa’dan | 500,000 (1990) | Makale (Tallulembangna), Rantepao (Kesu’), Toraja Barat (West Toraja, Mappa-Pana). | |||
| Source: Gordon (2005). | |||||
A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterised their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.
Marriage
Toraja people applies an endogamous marriage system. Marriage is carried out between one male member and a female member of another member who is still in the same family environment. Marriages are not permitted outside the family. This marriage model is highly recommended in the Toraja tribe because of the importance of unity in relationships between families. Endogamous marriage is also used as a tool to maintain land ownership as belonging to one’s own family or one’s own family. The Toraja tribe has an endogamous system which is in complete conflict with the nature of kinship relations that exist in their region.
Inheritance
The Toraja tribe divides inheritance based on customary law. Inheritance of assets is carried out in the form of distribution of inherited assets from the heir. Inheritance is also used to determine the process of carrying out the traditional death ceremony for the heir. The children of the heir have the right to inherit inheritance based on the number of buffalo slaughtered. The amount of inheritance obtained is adjusted to the number of buffalo slaughtered by the children who become heirs. In Toraja customary law, inheritance is divided into two types of inheritance called “Ba’gi” and “Pa’tallang”. “Ba’gi” is an inheritance given while the parents are still alive, while “Pa’tallang” is the distribution of heirs after the parents die. “Ba’gi” is part of the parents’ assets that is divided equally, while the assets that have not been divided will be obtained by the children through “Pa’tallang.” The term “pa’tallang” means sacrifice to parents when they die.
