Hurray, today we will go to the most interesting area of \u200b\u200bthe Sulawesi island in Indonesia - a region called Tana Toraja with a unique architecture of houses, ancestor cult and famous funeral ceremonies. All this is still ahead of us.
How to get to Tana-Toraj.
By bus to Tana-Toraj.
There is no railway or airplanes to Tana-Toraj (at least regular ones). Only buses remain from public transport, but here, too, everything is not so simple. We sifted through a lot of information on this issue on the Internet in case we were unlucky again with hitchhiking in Sulawesi, and that's what we found out.
The fact is that there is no one bus station in Makassar, from where buses would go to Tana-Toraj. Each bus company has a separate station along Jl Street. Urip Sumoharjo, which is about 25 minutes from the city center towards the airport. However, the buses of all these companies pass by the 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 at 19: 00-21: 00.
- Travel time: 10 hours (2 hours to Paré Paré, 8 hours to Rantepao along a winding mountain road);
- Distance: 300 km;
- Ticket prices: from 100,000 to 170,000 rupees (depending on the class)
- Destination: Rantepao village.
Whichever bus company you choose, all buses are quite comfortable European type with air conditioning.
Hitchhiking to Tana-Toraj.
Since we travel around Indonesia by hitchhiking, we got to Tana-Toraja in this way.
As you remember, yesterday we stopped in the mountain town of Enerekang, where, by a “rainy” accident, 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 the next 30 km we managed to smell 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 could not easily pass by.
Here the traffic flow decreased significantly, 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 wanted 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 for free only to the entrance to the Tana-Toraja region, where he had to pick up his family. We agreed.
Tana Toraja (Toraja Country) is a mountain plateau behind the pass, located 800 m above sea level. This mountainous area is a system of valleys, which is locked by a pass. It is here that the Toraja people (inhabitants of the mountains) live.
So, the car stopped evenly at the entrance gate to the region inhabited by the mountaineers. Already the gates themselves are delightful, so we were rather impatient to get to the place.
Andrey took the opportunity and climbed onto the gate to examine the sculpture and the roof of the “boat” near it.
Map of attractions of Tana-Toraja.
Google has a hard time locating attractions in Tana Toraja. Therefore, I will just post here a photo of a paper guidebook (click to open large size), which we photographed from the Austrians. By the way, we used it ourselves. In fact, if you go along the main road Makale-Rantepao, then along the way there will be signs to this or that place. We examined some places like Syrup.
Sights of Tana-Toraj, which we saw.
Funeral ceremony.
People go to Tana-Toraja mainly to see the funeral ceremony, which is held in the summer. We traveled to Tana-Toraja in March, so we were not able to see the magnificent ceremony.
In short, for the Toraja, funerals are 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 its relative with all the honors. For this reason, the body of the latter waits up to several years for burial. What does the “funeral” money go for, for which a family can work for half its life? At the feast, there are also several dozen bull's heads, which are cut in front of everyone at the ceremony. I don't even know if I would like to be present or not.
Yes, the traditions here are a little strange, despite the fact that formally Tarajis are considered Muslims and Christians.
We just went for a ride on the most interesting (for us) sights of the Tana-Toraja plateau. In fact, there are a lot of hiking trails and places here, many of them are quite similar, so it makes no sense to go around them all, especially if there is no time for this. We hitchhiked between the points in local transport. For local residents, it is a real joy to ride a white man in the cab or in the back of your truck, to make a detour to relatives and friends so that the whole village knows about it.
I understand that this method of transportation is not suitable for everyone, so it is easier to rent a bike, as did a couple of Europeans we met along the way. We learned from them that renting a bike for a day costs them 100,000 rupees.
Now, let's go through the list of those places that we managed to visit.
Stone graves of Lemo (Lemo).
Lemo stone graves are located 12 km south of Rantepao. The driver of the last car that gave us a lift to Tana-Toraja dropped us off there.
Lemo in translation means “orange”, as the stone hill, in the slopes of which the graves are carved, to the locals in its shape resembles this very fruit. May it be so!
To get closer to the aforementioned rock, you need to overcome the ticket office and rice fields.
Lemo Stone Caves Ticket Price: 20,000 rupees.
Since we have not yet got used to the new environment, we decided to buy a ticket for one for two. Namely, at first I went alone to get a ticket and walked along the narrow path of the Lemo rock cemetery, which brought me to a hut.
And then Andrei, bypassing the ticket office, did the same thing, taking my ticket just in case they suddenly asked. However, at the caves no one checks the ticket, 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 reached without a ladder.
And the caves are guarded by such dolls of dead families. Looks a little creepy.
At the checkout at the exit there are souvenir shops where you can buy something similar in the form of a figurine.
Stone tombs are considered to be almost the oldest burial places in Sulawesi, so it is not surprising that the place is so popular among tourists.
Londa Caves
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 complex of caves. The name of the place came from the nearby village of the same name.
Before entering the cave, there are again rice fields, 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 a dark cave, and inside there is nothing to do without a lantern.
Guides with kerosene lamps stand on a stone staircase at the entrance. The cost of the ticket (for a guide and a lantern) is 30,000 rupees. But we managed to get inside for free. How? They just asked the local guys to go with them.
Inside the cave, coffins, bones, skulls are just everywhere, the locals do not hesitate to take pictures with almost every deceased. So I imagined how we take pictures 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 like that. In general, for an amateur.
Rantepao. False listing.
After inspecting all the rock cemeteries, the day began to lean towards evening and since Rantepao is just a stone's throw from Londa, we went there in another truck with the wind in our hair.
In the city itself, there is nothing special to see, except for various souvenir shops and a mixture of the architecture of private houses.
We had dinner in a passing tavern cart - as a rule, a small wooden box with a couple of dishes to choose from (rice or noodles), but at a fairly low price. A couple of servings of fried rice at 6,000 rupees per serving was enough for us. Here, another miracle of culinary was discovered, which was not found on other islands - this is 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 a recipe, but at the local one it turned out incomprehensible. Just a flat 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 starting to think about an overnight stay, when suddenly a small bike with a girl slowed down beside us. She asked a couple of questions about who we were and where we came from and offered accommodation. We refused referring to the fact that we were 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. Having looked around her bike, we said that there were three of us, but we wouldn't fit with backpacks. Not bewildered, the little girl indicated where we need to go on foot, it was not far.
Once on the spot, we already sensed something was wrong, seeing too "combed" private house and some foreigner on the veranda. So it is, the girl was invited to the "home stey", now it is so called. That is, the family lives in a house where they rent out a room for visitors. We “politely” refused, and for a while we hung out in the yard of the house to figure out what to do next. There was a pomelo tree nearby, and while we were thinking, we chewed on the freshly plucked 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 apparently unused premises. But it turned out that my father entered us into his house, settled 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 the children, otherwise we will not get rid of the “photo”.
Abandoned rock cemetery Sirope.
In the morning after the next day, having bought a pound of sweet and sticky longan (Indonesian fruit) at the market, we set off to explore the new places of Tana Toraj. You know how foreigners love to walk around with paper guides or maps. So, on one of them we found a very interesting place called Sirope, which is 6 km north of Makale and 1 km away from the main road.
The cemetery is interesting in that it has been abandoned for several years, it is difficult to meet a tourist there because of its not hyped and a little unkempt place. But this Syrup also attracts. Therefore, the entrance there is free, as you understand.
A taxi driver drove us to Syrup for free, because it was on the way. A narrow road from the track 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 is more generous to us than ever.
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, there are many ancient coffins made of wood with beautiful carvings (erongs), sometimes there are already familiar guardians of Tau-Tau.
If you go along the stairs covered with foliage, you can go to the platform with stone chairs around the perimeter.
We didn’t stay here for a long time, it’s somehow uncomfortable.
Lake Tilanga (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, having jumped into another truck to Makale, but on the way the man told about the lake, and we turned back.
From the main road to Tilanga to stomp about a couple of kilometers, but what kind of views on the sides.
Near the lake there is a small cash box, where it is written in black and white:
Entrance fee - 20,000 rupees.
Of course, we were not going to swim, and there is nowhere to change clothes, except perhaps 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 directions, ran towards us in about 20 minutes and probably shouted something about paying for the passage in his Aboriginal language.
We have already looked, everything we wanted, so perhaps it's time to go back.
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 a quiet ennobled territory.
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 a child died before his teeth erupted, then he is buried in trees that emit sap (called milk).
Feels like the atmosphere here is different from other cemeteries of Tana-Toraji. It seems like a simple place, but the frost runs through the skin worse than in the same caves of Londa.
The entrance is free, which is understandable, there are enough 10 minutes to look around.
Makale. Unsuccessful attempt to leave for the north of Sulawesi.
In Makala, the regional center of Tana-Toraji, we were already after lunch. We refueled ourselves with a new local dish called "bakso" - noodles with meat balls (something like dumplings without dough) at 10,000 rupees per serving. Then we walked around the center a little.
Again familiar buildings with a roof "ship" and monuments.
By the way, while 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 with traditions here.
Towards evening we decided to leave Makale in the opposite direction. Here I must say that we examined Tana-Toraja for only 2 days, since the third day was spent trying to get out to the north. The maximum we managed to get to was the town of Palopo, after which the hitchhiking simply stalled. 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, whether we were not lucky, or in that area they do not understand well what hitchhiking is. Bikers and taxi drivers stopped a couple of times, but this did not go further. Therefore, in order not to waste time, we decided to return to Rantepao, inspect some places, and then go back to Makassar.
We hoped to drive 10 kilometers from Makale in order to calmly put up a tent outside the city. However, we came across a truck with workers that flew all the way to Makassar. The same workers with whom we chatted along the mountain roads up to Enrekang were sleeping in the back. Andrey and I were not enough for more, we were very tired of the road and wanted to sleep.
So let's continue tomorrow.
There is a huge mass of stories in which deceased people are the main characters. Each culture has its own way of burying the dead, seemingly reliably paving the line between the real and the other world.
There are countless beliefs about how our soul is transformed after imminent death, and people have formed a long tradition of funerals, special ceremonies and rituals.
Regardless of the culture, the accepted practice of burial and beliefs, in most cases the deceased corpse remains dead for all the further time.
Indonesia, The Walking Dead.
In our story, we will have to remember the attitude towards all the mystical, because in Indonesia, the dead can easily come to visit. I'm not talking about these terrible zombies, or vampires, who crawled out of the grave and gritted their teeth in search of a victim. Many people may not believe, but in Toraja culture there is a term "Walking Dead" (Walking Dead). Moreover, this is not a metaphorical term, but, most likely, real reality, without any mysticism with revived corpses.
Toraja, an ethnic group of people representing the indigenous population of the mountains of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Locals build houses with huge gabled roofs like boats (tongokonan). Also, the locals have long been famous for exquisite woodcarving and unique traditions. The Toraja are well known for their complex and extremely bizarre funeral rites, as well as their choice of a place for the rest of the dead.
This eerie fascination with death can be seen throughout the villages of the tribe. The impression is enhanced by the intricate burial sites carved right into the rocky cliffs in the traditional style of the locals. Unique houses, tongokonan - immaculately decorated with buffalo horns, a symbol of wealth, in which they not only live but are also used as resting places for the corpses of recently deceased relatives.
In the funeral rites of the Toraja, one can see all their long-term relationship to death, more precisely, a strong belief in the afterlife, and the transition process from death to burial is long. When a person dies, his corpse is not always interred, as a rule, washed and kept in the house. To avoid the effects of decomposition, the body of the deceased is covered with the traditional ingredients, betel leaf with banana juice. In some cases, such a residence can take a long time.
In poorer families, the deceased may be kept in the next room of their own home. As a funeral ceremony in Torajo is usually an extravagant affair and requires the presence of all relatives, no matter how far away they may be. It is quite natural that waiting for the arrival of all the relatives of the deceased takes a very long time, plus, it is necessary to collect money for an expensive funeral service and the burial itself.
For us, this will seem like something strange, unusual, not everyone is able to sleep next to the deceased, although this is not particularly unpleasant for the villagers of Torajo. In local society, it is believed that the death process is long, the soul slowly and gradually leads its own in "Puya".
During this waiting period, the corpse is still treated as if it were still alive. The soul is believed to keep close by, waiting for its way to Puya. The body is clothed and groomed regularly, to the point of offering dinner, as if it were still a living member of the family. And only when all agreements are observed, the relatives will gather and the funeral ceremony begins.
Depending on the level of wealth of the deceased, funerals can be incredibly lavish and extravagant, including mass festivities for several days. During the ceremony, hundreds of family members gather at the Rante ceremonial venue, where they express their grief with music and singing.
A common feature of such events, especially among the wealthy people of the tribe, is the sacrifice of buffalo and pigs. It is believed that buffaloes and pigs are necessary for the soul of the deceased to pass to, and the more animals were sacrificed, the faster the journey will pass. For this, depending on the wealth of the family, I can kill up to a dozen buffaloes and hundreds of pigs, accompanying the event with fanfare of revelers who dance and try to catch the flying blood with bamboo straws.
The shedding of blood on the ground is considered important for the soul's transition to Puya, and in some cases, special cockfighting known as "bulangan londong" is held as if the blood of all those buffaloes and pigs is not enough.
When the celebrations are over, and the body is ready for burial, the corpse is placed in a wooden box, after which it will be laid in a cave specially cut for burial (they thought they would bury it in the ground?). Of course, this is a specially prepared cave that meets the requirements for the ritual.
In the event that infants or small children are buried, the box is suspended from the rock with thick ropes until they rot and the coffin falls to the ground, after which it will be re-suspended. The ritual of such a burial, with the hanging of coffins, echoes the tradition of the Indians who lived in an anomalous place known as "".
They try to place their dead Toraja higher, since they are placed between Heaven and Earth, it will be easier for the soul to find its way to the afterlife. The burial cave houses many of the tools and equipment the soul needs in the afterlife, including money and, oddly enough, piles of cigarettes.
Walk with a mummified corpse.
Funeral caves can only have one coffin, and represent complex mausoleums for the rich, there can be rich decoration, and the place itself can wait for the death of relatives. Simply put, they are a type of family crypt.
Some of the tombs are more than 1,000 years old, with coffins containing rotted bones and skulls. However, after the actual burial in the Toraja tribe, this does not mean that no one will see the deceased again.
Photograph of the walk of the alleged corpse
Here there is the most unusual ritual for the dead, giving birth to tales of the living dead or zombies. Once a year, in August, the inhabitants come to the caves to visit the dead, they not only repair a broken coffin in case of need, but also take care of the dead: they wash and bathe the deceased!
The ritual is known as "Ma'nene", a ceremony to care for corpses. Moreover, the care procedure is carried out regardless of how long they were dead or how old they were. Some of the corpses spent so long in the caves that they were mummified quite well.
At the end of the procedure for refreshing the dead, residents hold them in an upright position and “walk” with them through the village to the place of their death and back. After this strange walk, the inhabitant of the afterlife is again sent to the coffin, and left until the next year, when the whole process is repeated again.
To some, all this may seem rather creepy and strange, however, as it is argued, in some remote areas of Indonesia, more strange ceremonies take place: the dead can walk here on their own!
It is also true that funeral rituals and rituals in Toraja are extremely demanding, because in order for the spirit of the deceased to have the opportunity to pass into the afterlife, certain conditions must be observed exactly.First, absolutely all relatives of the deceased's family must attend the funeral. Secondly, the deceased must be interred in the village of his birth. If these conditions are not met, the soul will forever linger near the body in limbo, and will not be able to travel to the afterlife. Such an assurance led to the fact that people did not want to leave their native villages, fearing to die far from the place of birth, thereby depriving the soul of the opportunity to get into the afterlife.
The walking dead go home.
All this created some problems in the past, when the Dutch appeared here with colonization. The Toraja lived in remote villages, autonomous, which were completely isolated from each other and from the outside world, with no roads connecting them.
When someone died far from their place of birth, it was difficult for the family to get the body to the right place.
Rugged and mountainous terrain, long distances, presented a rather serious problem. The solution to the problem was unique, and boiled down to the fact that the corpses must go home themselves!
In order for the deceased to independently reach the village where he was born, and thereby remove a lot of trouble from loved ones, shamans began to look for a person who has the power to temporarily bring the dead back to life. Perhaps this is from the field of black magic used by shamans to return the dead to temporary life.
The Walking Dead are said to be largely unaware of their condition, and are often unresponsive to what is happening. They lack the ability to express thoughts or emotions, resurrected corpses are able to perform only the most basic tasks, such as walking.
When the deceased is brought back to life, it is only for one purpose, to drag his feet to the place of his birth, guided by the instructions of the shaman or family members. Although legends tell, in some cases the walking dead walk on their own.
Have you now imagined how you met a walking corpse on the road? Do not be alarmed, in fact, in front of the group of wandering dead special people necessarily walked, they showed the way, and warned about the dead man walking to the grave.
By the way, black magic is certainly a powerful thing, but the journey to the place of birth had to take place in silence, it was forbidden to turn to the lively one. One had only to call out to him by name, as all the power of magic was destroyed, and the dead finally died.
The walking dead, danger of a zombie invasion?
It is not even known whether a bullet can achieve such a striking effect and knock down a living deceased, but the decayed spell knocks him down with a swing. Nevertheless, if someone panicked and starts preparing for the imminent outbreak of zombies, then I will note that this process is only a temporary effect. It is necessary to transport the corpse to the birthplace, although depending on the distance it can take several days or even weeks.
At the same time, there is no word about what will happen if a resident dies abroad. Although it is known, being in a "zombie" state, the dead did not growl, did not attack a person with the aim of biting, it is completely passive to the surrounding creature. After he reaches his native place, he again becomes a simple corpse, awaiting his funeral in the usual way. Interestingly, as they say, the body can be revived to life again so that the deceased can reach the coffin.
Currently, with the increase in the number of roads and the availability of transport, the ritual of the walking dead is considered an unnecessary practice, in our time, the return of the dead to life is extremely rare in the Toraj culture.
Needless to say, the modern generation has little faith in the stories of grandmothers, considering the walking dead as an old invention.However, some remote villages allegedly still practice the ancient rites of bringing the dead to life. There is an isolated village called Mamasa in these places, especially famous for the practice of this terrible rite.
Here they still use the possibilities of black magic to talk to the dead and tell them about the accomplishments of their descendants. Often, such moments are captured by cameras and become publicly available.
Despite the fact that the corpses in the attached photographs look very real, they are considered nothing more than a hoax. It is also suspected that the photographs show people suffering from some kind of disfiguring disease that gives the body the illusion of death.
It is difficult to say which is more present here, folklore or deception. Or maybe in the Toraja tribe shamans really have tremendous power, temporarily raising the dead and allowing them to walk? In any case, eerie and nightmarish traditions exist in South Sulawesi, where some residents believe that what is happening to the dead is real.
On the territory of the island of Sulawesi (Indonesia) for many years there have been "Torajis" practicing an eerie religious trend - animism. On the one hand, animism is a “correct” religion, since the “Toraj” believe that everything around them has a soul (not only people, birds, insects and animals, but also inanimate objects). On the other hand, animism regulates the most terrible funeral rites.
For example, if a baby dies on the island of Sulawesi, whose first teeth have not yet grown, then he is buried in the trunk of a real tree. The corpses of adults are periodically exhumed and displayed for all to see.
The funeral for this ancient people is a very important religious ritual.
When a representative of the above-described people dies, the whole village gathers for his funeral. This serves as an excellent reason for his family to get together and make peace if there were previously quarrels between them. The funeral process itself is carried out strictly according to certain rules established by the ancestors of the "Toraja" many centuries ago. A funeral in Sulawesi can last for several days.
After the death of a representative of the "Toraja" people, his relatives perform several special rituals, but they do not start them right away. The reason for this is the poverty of the "Toraja", to which they have long been accustomed, so they do not try to improve their financial situation. Until the family of the deceased has collected the amount necessary for the funeral (a very considerable one), the funeral will not take place.
Sometimes a funeral can be delayed for weeks, months, or even years. Throughout this time, the deceased is in the house where he lived before his death. He is embalmed immediately after death, which prevents decomposition of the body. "Toraji" believe that while their loved one is in the same room with them, he is not dead. He is considered simply "sick."
How does the funeral of representatives of Toraja begin?
Initially, when the required amount has already been collected, the relatives of the deceased must make a certain sacrifice: slaughter cattle for ritual dances. The number of sacrificial animals may vary. The stronger and more famous the deceased was during his lifetime, the more animals will be slaughtered in his honor at the funeral. Sometimes the number of animals reaches hundreds, or even thousands.
Also, a place for burial is prepared in advance. The graves near the "Toraja" are non-standard - carved into high rocks. Passing such a rock, any tourist can faint. The fact is that not every family of "Toraja" has the necessary amount to create such a grave. If the family is very poor, then the deceased will simply be hung on a rock in a wooden coffin. Over time, this coffin will rot and collapse. The remains of the deceased will hang from him or simply fall to the ground.
Each grave, carved into the rock, is decorated with wooden figures depicting the deceased. It can take several months to make an expensive grave. Stone burial chambers are capable of storing a body for decades.
As mentioned at the beginning, according to a special tradition, the Torajs bury babies who have not yet grown their first teeth. This nation considers newborns to be special creatures, pure and immaculate, who have just become detached from nature, and therefore must return to it. They are buried in tree trunks. Initially, a hole of the desired shape and size is hollowed out in the selected living tree. Then the body is laid there. The resulting grave is closed with special doors made of palm fibers.
After about a couple of years, the wood begins to "heal wounds" by absorbing the body of the little deceased. In one large tree there may be more than a dozen such graves.
After the deceased has been buried, the Torajs begin the feast. Then everything goes almost according to the standard scheme familiar to Europeans. But at the feast, the funeral manipulations do not end. Every year the relatives of the deceased perform a terrible ritual "manene".
"Manene" - legal exhumation
Every year the Toraja people retrieve their dead relatives from their graves. After that, they are washed, cleaned, put in order and changed into new outfits. Further, the mummies are carried throughout the settlement, which from the side resembles a procession of zombies. After performing the above rituals, the mummy is put back in the coffin and buried again, a little less luxuriously than the first time.
Zombies scare people with their invulnerability and persistence in the search for flesh. At the same time, everyone is calm, since the walking dead do not exist. But this is not the case. In a remote village, Tana Toraja is raising the dead from the ground. Should you start to be afraid?
Not at all. Local zombies do not eat brains and do not hunt for the living. The Indonesian countryside is home to the friendliest and most peaceful zombies imaginable. Torajians can force any deceased to walk and breathe again, resorting to the services of dark forces and black magic.
In fact, not the whim of relatives, but the funerary traditions of Tan Toraja, are not allowed to calmly rot in the ground.
The first belief is credited with burying the dead in the region where they were born. Therefore, if the deceased at one time came to the village from another place, then you need to force him to walk to his native land on his own.
The second reason for creating zombies is financial necessity. Families often did not have enough money to bury a relative, so he could not rest in peace until he earned himself a coffin and a ceremony.
The photo clearly shows that the shaman is holding the remains of a woman buried six months ago by the hand. One would think that this is a skillful make-up, but where does it come from in a remote village?
Eyewitnesses claim that the dead smell like decomposed flesh. The zombie woman couldn't speak, she just hissed.
Residents of Tan Toraji claim that the ability to raise corpses from graves was inherited from their great-grandfathers, the world's strongest shamans. Anyone who wishes for a substantial amount can see the ritual with their own eyes and "enjoy" communication with the living dead for a while.
Eerie rituals associated with death have survived to our time in different parts of our planet. Among the people of one of the tribes of Brazil, it is customary to burn the deceased, and his ashes, added to food, are eaten by the whole village. In Tibet, the dead are given up to be torn apart by birds of prey and animals, and in Greenland, feeble old people are simply left on an ice floe for certain death. And in the area of \u200b\u200bTana-Toraji on the most beloved and magnificent holiday - someone's funeral.
Funeral on the island of Sulawesi
Toraya, first of all, respects the dead more than the living. Secondly, they believe that the deceased needs help in the form of sacrifices by buffaloes and pigs in order to get to the afterlife. This event is quite expensive, so local residents save money for it for a long time - sometimes several months, or even years. The embalmed body of the deceased, until funds are found, lies in the house, and the rest of the family believe that he was simply ill or fell asleep.
As soon as the required amount is collected, the residents gather for the procession. At first, under a red cloth, there are dressed up lively villagers. Then the men lead the doomed animals. Sacrificial buffaloes do not work in the fields, they have a different task. Then the deceased is solemnly carried in a special tomb that looks like a boat. Buffaloes are sacrificed, part of the meat is distributed, a treat is prepared from the rest, and the feast begins.
The richer the family of the deceased, the greater the number of sacrificial animals, sometimes it reaches a thousand. Their horns are then decorated with dwellings - tongkonans, the edges of the roofs of which are directed upwards like the horns of a buffalo.
According to another version, the roofs are created in the likeness of a boat in which a beautiful princess, the patroness of Toraja, sailed to the island. They say that in ancient times, in addition to animals, captive slaves were also killed to serve in the afterlife. However, here the Torajs are unoriginal - this custom was widespread in many states.
For many poor people, funerals are the only way to get a hearty meal. Any person is allowed to the funeral feast; everyone tries to bring something as a gift to the family of the deceased.
The funeral lasts several days, after which the body is taken to the burial place. Wealthy torayas bury family members in the caves of Londa and Ketekesu, or carve niches in the rock. The poor hang the tombs nearby on the branches of trees, sometimes several corpses in one. There are frequent cases of destruction of tombs, so the land around is littered with human remains.
Torajis believe in the connection of infants with the spirit world before their first tooth appears. If such a child dies, he is buried in a specially made hole in the tree trunk. The entrance is closed with a door. This is how parents pass the child into the bosom of mother nature. Such burials are called Sanggala.
Festival Manene
If you think that this is where the spooky ceremony ends, you are wrong. Once every three years, it is customary to remove the bodies of loved ones from the tombs, clean them, dress them up in new clothes and organize a holiday for the dead. Women get makeup and hair. At the same time, Torajs talk with the dead, even compliment them about their appearance. The mummies are taken out for a walk with the whole family.
According to rumors, earlier after the holiday, the deceased themselves returned to their burial sites. Now this can only be done with black magic.
Modern torayas understand the shocking nature of funerals - but what to do, this is the custom. Moreover, it attracts many tourists who want to tickle their nerves. In addition, despite the abundance of Christian churches in Indonesia, every resident of Sulawesi continues to believe in spirits and the connection between the living and the dead.
