Within a small court yard hundreds of grieving people, all dressed in black, listen to priests loud and passionate speech. Mystical buildings decorated with skulls of buffaloes border the venue. Myriads of pigs lay on the ground with their legs tied together screaming in distress, while white-eyed buffaloes walk anxiously back and forth. A powerful energy is present.
On equator, in the far reaches of South-East Asia, a tropical island beholds a unique culture focused on death. In the highlands of Sulawesi lies Tana Toraja, land (Tana) of the people above (Toraja). Here death is present in every day. As many other cultures around the world, the Toraja believe in afterlife. What makes them special is the fact that they prepare for it their whole lives. It is thought that sacrificing buffaloes during the funeral, help in the journey to Puya, the land of souls. A spirit of a strong buffalo will escort the deceased to the land of souls through all the obstacles he might encounter on the way. The more buffaloes are sacrificed the more likely a deceased will make it to the Puya.
The preparation begins well before death, as one cannot tell when the time comes. Wealth is gathered throughout life to purchase the strongest buffaloes, most beautiful funeral venues, the most accurate wooden sculptures, just to name a few. The richest will have the opportunity to buy the famous, white-eyed buffaloes. It is believed that these rare individuals possess the greatest spiritual powers among the species, and they are priced accordingly. A prime white-eyed buffalo’s price might rise over 50 000 usd! In Indonesia where the average annual salary is between three and four thousand usd, that is an enormous amount. The buffaloes are not the only funeral expense. A highly decorated funeral venue must be built around the family’s house and only a few masters of Torajan hand-carving are able to do this time consuming procedure. Another investment, practiced by the wealthiest nobles, is a wooden sculpture of the deceased, which is placed outside of the burial site.
Peculiar unearthly buildings, called Tongkonans, are in the center of a Torajan life. The wooden structure of advanced ancient architecture stands on 6 wood pillars. Its walls are filled with hand crafted black, red and yellow carvings, and the roof stretches its ends high up to the sky forming the shape of a crescent moon. Huge buffalo skulls tower in the house’s facade, completing the Tongkonan’s fierce appearance. Local myths tell of ‘to manurun di langi’, the ones who descended from the sky, and ‘to kendek diomai liku’, the ones who rose from a pool. From the heaven came the men and from the pond the women. They were the forefathers of Toraja and built the first Tongkonan from which all the following took example of. These sacred houses serve as sites where elaborate rituals, including the funeral, are enacted.
Thunder echoes from the stormy sky as a buffalo is escorted to the middle of the venue. Everyones attention is drawn to it. The priest voice gets more passionate. A man holding the buffalo raises a blade in the air, swish, the first sacrifice is made...
