Funeral rites in Indonesia are different and depend on what religion the inhabitants of a particular part of the country adhere to. Muslims, Christians (Protestants and Catholics), Buddhists, Confucians and representatives of ancient tribal animism live in Indonesia. Most often, these people bury their dead according to the traditions of the denomination they represent.
However, there are exceptions, and they are most interesting for lovers of exotic and researchers of ancient ethnic customs.
The most unusual and attracting many tourists are considered
burial customs of the Tana-Toraja area on the island of Sulawesi
The Toraj people still practice animism, although officially most of its representatives are Christians, and some are followers of Islam. But animistic traditions remain in the life of both Protestants and Muslims of Tana-Toraja. They are closely intertwined with both later religions and are most prominent in the extremely complex and unique funeral rite.
Toraji believe that after the death of any person, his the soul will definitely go to heaven... The concept of hell for them, according to traditional beliefs, does not exist at all. Even Toraj Christians and Muslims do not really believe in the posthumous division of souls into sinful and righteous.
But even in paradise, according to the ancient ideas of the ancestors, the deceased will be really good only if he is buried correctly, after all the necessary ceremonies without exception.
Therefore, the bodies of Toraja's relatives are brought to their native villages, even if they died in other places.
A funeral costs a lot, since the rite itself, and the traditional grave, and its design are quite expensive even for wealthy families. Therefore, quite a lot of time passes from the moment of a person's death to the day of his burial.
After the death of a relative, the family immediately begins to prepare for the funeral.
initially body is embalmed and is placed in a temporary coffin, which is placed in one of the rooms of an ordinary residential building.
It can stay there from several months to a year, until relatives collect enough money for a worthy funeral and prepare everything in the best possible way.
During this time the burial place is being prepared and tau-tau is carved - a wooden figure depicting the deceased. Usually these statues are made to the full height of a person.
Wealthy families order a master portrait mannequin.
This is made within 1.5 - 2 months, and it costs about 500 US dollars. The majority of Torajians, however, cannot afford such luxury, and dolls ordered by the poor are almost nothing like their prototypes. In addition, a new coffin is being made. It can have any shape, but it must necessarily be crowned with a structure that imitates the roof of the traditional Toraja house - tongkonan. All this time, the deceased is considered not dead, but sick.
They bring him food, cigarettes, betel nut and various other things that the living need. When the required amount for a worthy funeral has been collected and everything is ready for them, a time is set to say goodbye to the deceased.
Funeral ceremony on Tana-Toraja
lasts from 3 to 12 days, depending on the income of the family
It usually comes all relatives and friends and many fellow villagers who come, including from different parts of the country, and even from abroad. Sometimes up to several hundred people come together, and for their resettlement it is necessary to build temporary houses.
Seeing off, according to custom, bring different offerings- sometimes money, but most often sacrificial animals: buffaloes, pigs, chickens. A lot of them are required for a funeral, especially if the deceased was a respected person.
It is believed that the blood of the killed animals will go as a gift to the gods, of which the Sulawesi natives have a lot.
On the first day, the body of the deceased is placed in a new coffin, painted in ritual colors: red (symbolizes life and blood), yellow (a sign of power), White (purity) and black (death). The coffin is carried throughout the village so that the deceased can say goodbye to their homes.
On this day, relatives and friends of the family come to the village.
On the second day, mass sacrifices take place. Buffaloes, pigs and chickens are killed with a machete, staining everything around with their blood. According to legends, killed animals should serve the deceased in the next world. Buffaloes are especially appreciated, without which, it is believed, the soul will not be able to reach the blessed land of the dead and will be very angry with relatives for this.
In the following days, the meat of animals is eaten by everyone who arrives in honor of the soul of the deceased. She herself, as the Torajs believe, temporarily moves to the tau-tau and watches the funeral feasts in her honor. The crowded celebration lasts until the food ends. After that, the coffin with the body is placed on a stretcher and sent to the burial place.
Graves in North Sulawesi
are made in ordinary cemeteries in the ground.
Europeans are buried in the same way.
Islanders over the graves put small houses- fairly accurate copies of those in which the deceased lived before their death.
The graves of Europeans are most often marked with traditional monuments - stone crosses or steles with tombstones.
In the south of the island they practice ancient burials in the mountains(if there is no money for a generic or individual concrete crypt, which is very expensive). There, niches for coffins and balconies for tau-tau wooden statues are cut in the limestone. The closer such a grave is to the top of the rock, the easier it will be for the soul to ascend to heaven.
Poor families bury their dead in natural caves, and sometimes they put new bodies in old coffins, in which the remains of other ancestors already lie. Christian crosses are often placed near the coffins in the rocks, and the niches themselves, after installing the coffin, are covered with shields.
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 the “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 put on public display.
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 Toraja representatives 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 at the "Toraja" are non-standard - carved into high rocks. Passing such a rock, any tourist can lose consciousness. 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 figurines 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. After that, 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 conduct a terrible ritual "manene".
"Manene" - legal exhumation
Every year, the Toraja people retrieve their deceased relatives from their graves. After that, they are washed, cleaned, put in order and changed into new outfits. Then 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.
The Indonesian island of Sulawesi is inhabited by a group of related Toraji peoples. Translated from Bugi, this means "highlanders", since it is in the mountainous regions that the Toraja settlements are located. These people practice animism, a religious trend that regulates funeral rites that are terrible for a European. (site)
Toraji bury children in a very peculiar way.
If a baby dies here, whose first teeth have not yet grown, relatives bury him in the trunk of a living tree. This people considers newborns to be special creatures, immaculate and pure, who have barely torn themselves away from Mother Nature and therefore must return to her ...
Initially, a hole of the required size and shape is hollowed out in the selected tree. The baby's body fits into it. The resulting grave is closed with a special door made of palm fibers.
After about two years, the wood begins to "heal the wound" and it absorbs the body of the deceased crumbs. One big tree can be the last shelter for dozens of babies ...
But this, as they say, is still a flower, and to be honest, such a burial of babies is not devoid of a certain meaning and sad harmony. The situation is different with the fate of all other Torajas.
Unburied corpses are just sick relatives
After the death of a person, his relatives perform a number of special rituals, but they do not always start this right away. The reason lies in the poverty of the majority of the population, to which, however, it has long been accustomed and therefore does not try to improve its situation. However, until the relatives of the deceased collect the necessary amount (and a very impressive one), the funeral cannot take place. Sometimes they are postponed not only for weeks and months, but even for years ...
During all this time, the "awaiting burial" is in the house where he lived before. After death, the Torajs embalm their departed to prevent the decay of their bodies. By the way, such dead - not buried and staying in the same house with the living - are considered not lifeless mummies, but simply sick people (?!)
But now the required amount has been collected, the ritual of sacrifice is performed, ritual dances are performed and everything that is required for this case by the strict rules established by the ancestors of Toraja many centuries ago. By the way, a funeral in Sulawesi can last for several days. Ancient legends say that earlier, after performing all the ritual procedures, the dead themselves went to their resting places ...
Toraji is carved into the rocks at a certain height. True, again, not everything, and if the family is very poor, she will simply hang a wooden coffin on a rock. Being near such a "churchyard", a European tourist can easily lose consciousness at the sight of someone's remains hanging from a rotten coffin or even falling to the ground ...
But that's not all. In August of each year, restless Torajs remove their relatives from the graves in order to wash them, put them in order, and put on new clothes. After that, the dead are carried through the entire settlement (which is very similar to a zombie procession) and, after being laid in coffins, are buried again. This ritual, unthinkable for us, is called "manene".
Return of lost corpses
The villages of the Toraja peoples were built on the basis of one family, practically each of them was one separate family. The villagers tried not to go far away and stick to their "area", as they believed that the soul of a person after death should remain close to the body for some time before heading to "puya", that is, the haven of souls.
And for this you need to be near your loved ones, who will conduct all the necessary rituals. If a person dies far from their native village, they may not be found. In this case, the soul of the unfortunate person will be forever stuck in his body.
However, Toraja also has a way out in this case, although this ritual is very expensive and therefore not available to everyone. At the request of the missing person's relatives, the village sorcerer calls the soul and the dead body back home. Hearing this call, the corpse rises and, staggering, begins to plod onto it.
People who noticed his approach run to warn of the return of the dead. They do this not out of fear, but in order for the corpse to be at home as soon as possible (nothing to stop it) and the rite to be performed correctly. If someone touches a wandering corpse, he will again collapse to the ground. So those running ahead warn about the procession of the dead man and that it is impossible to touch him in any case ...
… You experience amazing feelings when you imagine such a picture. And the very attitude of these people to death evokes by no means weak emotions. But besides shuddering, indignation and resolute rejection, isn't there an involuntary respect for those who managed to make death an integral, familiar part of everyday life and thereby defeated the eternal horror of a person before it? ..
Tana Toraja is an amazing region in the mountains of South Sulawesi, where the pagan belief of Aluk Todolo is still perfectly preserved, according to which a mortal life should be lived and completed in such a way that it would be possible to return to the ancestors living in the sky in the world of Puya (a kind of Christian paradise). And for this I do not feel sorry for anything: no money, no animals, no beloved one ... Vera Aluk Todolo is complex, multifaceted and confused, much has already been forgotten and erased under the dust of centuries, something is gone as unnecessary, but the Toraja keep their funeral tradition strictly.
And how can you not keep it, because everyone wants to find eternal life in the paradise Pue ... The soul of the deceased can get there only with the help of sacrificed buffaloes, the number of which depends on the caste of the deceased. The price for a buffalo starts at 15 million rupees ($ 1,100) and goes up to 1 billion (the price of a decent jeep). Therefore, the deceased is almost never buried immediately; it happens that from the moment of death to the funeral ceremony a year, or even years, passes - the family saves money. Naturally, no morgue will hold the body for so long, and the Toraja do not have any morgues, but there are special "conservatives" who embalm bodies. Now formaldehyde + some local drugs are used for these purposes.
The Tana Toraja region is extremely interesting, beautiful and sincere, I am happy to be stuck here for a couple of weeks instead of going further through Sulawesi. When Alexander came to me under the program Nature of Java and Sulawesi, we were lucky to see the funeral ceremony of Toraja's grandmother in the Tagari village, which is closest to the city of Rantepao. The daughter of the owners of the guesthouse, the best in the city, leaked us completely free of charge.
The burial ceremony of the Toraja, called Rambu Solo, takes place for several days and differs somewhat depending on the caste of the deceased. I will not go into this jungle and load with unnecessary information, but I will focus on my observations, sensations, as well as on the most interesting and useful facts.
We arrived on the second day of the festivities, which included a body parting ceremony and a pig sacrifice. There were not many guests, a couple of hundreds, most likely, the deceased grandmother belonged to a wooden or iron caste. The guests tried to dress in all black, but they did it badly.
The relatives of the deceased are wearing traditional clothes.
Each family of guests brings some kind of gift to the family in which a person died: some a pig, some a betel nut (alcoholic drink), some cigarettes and betel nut (a nut with a narcotic effect), and some a buffalo. However, if a guest comes without a gift, this is also normal and no one will sacrifice it. Sasha and I took several packs of cigarettes, but did not know who to give them to and no one asked us anything. By the way, the family of the deceased will then have to give the equivalent to the guests when someone in their family dies. Here is such a whirlwind of gifts in nature! The cost of one pig is from 150 to 500 dollars, and they can be charged with a dozen - so count ...
The coffin with the body of the deceased grandmother is located in a special two-story building called the Lakian.
And to the left and right of it, special platforms are being built, where guests and relatives sit.
The pigs had already been slaughtered before us, so we only saw the process of butchering them.
The pieces are distributed fairly among the guests. Someone may well be chopped off half of the carcass, probably a big family.
A little to the side with a homemade flamethrower, the Toraja singed the pork bristles. It looks creepy, and how it smells ...
Nothing more interesting happened that day. But the next day, the third, the most interesting thing happened - the sacrifice of buffaloes.
All Torajs are Christians of different denominations, but this does not in any way prevent them from honoring their religion, we watched as the priest himself brought a buffalo to the funeral ceremony as a gift. This cannot but rejoice: there are few places in the world where the local religion would not bend under the official one. Apparently Pui in the tradition of Aluk Todolo is sweeter than the Christian paradise, and even based on everyday logic, it is better to return to your ancestors than to some foreign paradise planted by Dutch and German missionaries.
It all started quite nicely: a large square, traditional tongkanan houses and buffaloes tied to trees. As they say, nothing foreshadowed trouble ...
The atmosphere is not at all mourning, adults are talking, laughing, smoking and drinking coffee.
Children play soap bubbles.
It all started quite unexpectedly with the battle of the bulls: everyone broke off their platforms and ran to the cliff to watch two bulls fight below. They did not fight for long, but fiercely, to the point of blood.
Then the bulls began to be brought one by one to the square in front of the Lakian.
Grandmother was preparing to return to the world of her ancestors and demanded blood, a lot of blood ... After all, the more this vital elixir is shed, the easier the road to heaven will be, it will pass without a hitch. And if you are stingy, you can get stuck somewhere halfway and what this threatens - some elders know ...
I had already seen the killing of large animals, took part in a moose hunt, slaughtered goats with my own hands in the village, and thought that I was no longer interested in anything. Thought I'd take some cool National Geographic shots ... Yeah, right now! It all started so powerfully, unexpectedly, simply and routinely that from killing the first bull I experienced a real shock: I forgot about the camera, my intention to shoot a cool report, and in general I lost touch with reality. It seemed that some string had broken in the air, which should not break, should always sound, but there is nothing eternal in this world - the string broke, it could not help breaking ... And the buffaloes began to fall one after another. It was very simple and ordinary, without any loud words, strange gestures and other tinsel. Just once with a knife in the throat and that's it - the string broke.
Once - and from the open throat flows thick and thick, like oil, a stream of blood. It pours onto the dusty ground and mixes with it to form a viscous slurry sparkling with fresh paint.
The bull tilts its head, trying to close the wound, but in vain - the giant's strength leaves.
Straightening his legs, he sways back and forth and emitting a stream of shit, falls to the ground.
Agony hits his body. But in the end, death takes him into its icy embrace. He won't move anymore. Never.
At such moments you understand that death is inevitable.
AND death is forever.
Buffalo RD-3 - the hero of the funeral, who fought for life with a slit throat for several minutes.
In the first minute, a huge amount of blood poured out of him.
The bull very actively moved across the area as far as the rope, tied to his leg, allowed.
Then he decided to run away from death: he tore off the rope and rushed away, it looked something like this:
At that moment I did not shoot, as I was busy with a completely different matter - I was fleeing, along with the rest.
But you can't run away from death... The owner caught him by a rope threaded through his nostrils and took him to the killer - to cut him.
The killer drove and drove a knife across the throat, but it did not produce any effect that accelerated the arrival of the lady in black - the throat was professionally cut and the upgrade was not required. RD-3 just really wanted to live. The owner began to drive him in circles, hoping that the strength would leave the bull. But he was a real war and, despite the fact that almost all the blood had already flowed out of his mighty body, he continued to fight. The people, seeing such a rare sight, began to laugh and joke jokingly: "What if the bull is immortal and the soul of our grandmother will remain on this sinful earth?"
But finally RD-3 fell ... How is it, great warrior, death took you too?
But no - he got up and again in the ranks. Still, there is a cure for death, it is! The owner again began to lead him in circles with a rope threaded through his nostrils.
What? The bull fell again - this time dead. Death spares no one - not even heroes! Everyone will die!
Everything was mixed in a bloody carousel.
The Germans are shocked: they are thinking about the greatness of death.
And the kids don't care! The whole game, everything will pass and why bother about anything at all?
After all the buffaloes were hacked to death, their butchering began.
The meat was finely chopped and stuffed with bamboo stalks, which were then baked over the fire. This is a purely Torajian dish called papiong - all guests are treated to it. But Alexander and I made fun of leaving Tagari, after all, the funeral of the Toraj was a difficult sight and our nerves needed rest. Moreover, we do not eat meat.
You can read about what the burial places of this people are.
How to get there
A huge number of buses leave from Makassar to the Tana Toraja region from the Daya terminal in the morning and evening at 7 and 9 o'clock. Drive, respectively, all day or all night. Buses, even the cheapest ones, are very comfortable: with fully reclining wide seats and footrests like in Malaysia. Price 130-190 thousand rupees.
1. Contrary to the assurances of local guides, funerals are held all year round, but most often in July-August and around Christmas. In August, you can also be lucky to see the ceremony of dressing the deceased: during this period, the graves are opened, the dead are taken out, the remains are changed, or the bones are washed, and the items that the deceased asked from relatives in a dream are added to the coffin.
2. In order to attend the funeral, it is not at all necessary to hire a local guide, you can just come, sit, watch, take pictures. In the vicinity of Rantepao, no one will care about you, but in the hinterland you will be in the spotlight and surrounded by all sorts of care.
3. Guides can be engaged in any guest house, the minimum price is 150,000 rupees per day ($ 12), plus gasoline if he drives you on his motorbike.
4. There are several guesthouses in Rantepao, I recommend. If you need a large decent hotel, you can look at the search engine Hotellook
Hurray, today we will go to the most interesting area of the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia - a region called Tana Toraja with 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 railroad or airplanes (at least regular ones) to Tana-Toraj. From public transport, only buses remain, but here, too, everything is not so simple. We shoveled 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 drive 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 the daylight, the stunning mountain landscapes appeared to our eyes.
The very first car with some kind of petrol barrels picked us up on the highway, so that for 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 the passing stalls.
Naturally, we could not easily pass by.
Here the traffic flow has significantly decreased, 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 at an altitude of 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 gates to the region inhabited by the highlanders. 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'll 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 watch 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 their relative with all the honors. For this reason, the body of the latter waits for funeral for up to several years. 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 slaughtered 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 the Tarajis are considered Muslims and Christians.
We just rode around 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 points in local transport. For local residents, it is a real joy to ride a white man in the cab or the back of their 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 that 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.
Lemo stone graves.
Lemo stone graves are located 12 km south of Rantepao. The driver of the last car that took us 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, resembles this fruit in its shape to the locals. May it be so!
To get closer to the aforementioned rock, it is necessary to overcome the ticket office and rice fields.
Ticket price for Lemo stone caves: 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, no one checks the ticket at the caves, and the cashier has disappeared altogether in an unknown direction.
There is nowhere much 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 deceased 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 graves 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 was passed on 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.
On a stone staircase at the entrance, there are guides with kerosene lamps. 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, not for everybody.
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 dined 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 cooking was discovered, which was not found on other islands - this is a sweet thick flat cake 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 little 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, citing 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 with backpacks we would not fit there. Not bewildered, the little girl indicated where we need to go on foot, it was not far away.
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 newcomers. We “politely” refused, and for a while we hung out in the courtyard of the house to figure out what to do next. There was a pomelo tree nearby, and while we thought about it, 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 to put up a tent near the obviously 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 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 up 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 the 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, 20 minutes later ran to us 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 produce sap (called milk).
Feels like the atmosphere here is different from other cemeteries of Tana-Toraji. It seems like a simple place, and 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 a little through the center.
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 here with traditions.
Towards evening we decided to leave Makale in the opposite direction. It must be said here 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 do not 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 it didn't go any further. Therefore, in order not to waste time, we decided to return to Rantepao, inspect some places, and then go back to Makassar.
We expected 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. For more, Andrei and I were not enough, we were very tired of the road and wanted to sleep.
So we will probably continue tomorrow.
