The Toraja people's funeral rituals

In Indonesia mountainous region of South Sulawesi is home to an native group known as Torajans. The funeral rituals is the most complicated and expensive event in toraja society,a funeral is a great celebration of life.

Toraja funeral ceremony

Funeral is usually prepared in a large grassy field where shelters for audiences attended by thousands and lasts for several days
The Torajans works very hard to gather wealth for good send off in dead.it is the extravagance of the funeral, not the wedding, which marks a family’s status.In toraja society funeral ceremony are very important and are often held weeks, months, or even years after the death of a person to give the family of the deceased time to raise enough money for expenses and are often held weeks, months, or even years after the death of a person to give the family of the deceased time to raise enough money for expenses.

living with dead

During the waiting period the body of the dead is wrapped in several layers of cloths and kept under the traditional ancestral house under the same roof with his or her family.

Toraja traditional house or Tongkonan

In the waiting period the person is not considered to be truly dead but simply suffering an illness, the deceased family member is symbolically fed, cared for and taken out this could even last several years after death, after the eleventh day of funeral ceremony the body kept in a cave up on the cliff to its final resting place............