Torajanese and Makassarese Funeral Party

Torajanese and Makassarese in Funeral Ceremony

“The diversity is like a rainbow, it will adorn our lives”

M. Jufrianto

The province of South Sulawesi is comprised of 23 regencies, with four main ethnic groups. They are Makassarese, Buginese, Torajanese and Mandarese. Those tribes have unique cultures, ancient traditions, mystical way of life and ethnic natural beauty. One of the most famous unique cultures owned by this province is in funeral ceremony.

This culture, in most areas, is always accompanied in unsophisticated way. The deceased is just needed to be cleaned, covered, prayed and buried in a grave in a day. But, in this province, particularly in both ethnic groups; Torajanese and Makassarese, the funeral ceremony is conducted uniquely. They even have their own way to manage the deceased. They believe that the death should be celebrated with ceremonies reflecting a blend of grief and wealth. It can be seen from the expenses spent by those two ethnic groups during the party. They have to deplete at least millions of money until the ceremony ends. During the party, the host family should provide many kinds of foods and beverages to serve for all guests. They must prepare livestock such as cows, buffalos and pigs which shall be deducted during the party.

The second similarity that those ethnic groups encompass is in terms of the time duration in conducting the ritual. Those tribes mostly use up at least two months for celebrating it. The ceremony takes longer time because there are several rituals that the family has to do previously. In Makassar, they have to conduct the rituals such as reading the holy Qur’an for 40 nights, led by the priest or the people always call “Anrong Guru”. In Toraja, the rituals that the family has to do is such as providing the number of buffalo horns which should be placed later in front of the traditional house called “Tongkonan” as the temporary place of the corpse or in the front cave, where the coffin with the corpse inside placed. This is an important thing to do since they believe that the number of buffalo horns put in that place will describe about the social status of the deceased. Not only that, Torajanese also has to prepare “Mabbadong” (the process of fighting the buffalos mystically) that sometimes needs a week to prepare.

The third equation that they own is the societies’ belief about their bringing. The Torajanese and Makassarese believe that all the things brought by their guests during the funeral party are debt. Therefore, later when other family holds also the same party, the former host party has to return all the things brought in the last party.

Out of the similarities above, those two ethnic groups above also have several diversities in holding the process of funeral rituals. They differ in terms of place of burial, time of burial and the process of burial.

An easily identified thing of differences to find between those two tribes above is about the final place of burial. The Torajanese entomb their dead in a variety of impressive if unlikely ways: in boulders, limestone cliff faces, hanging graves, caves and trees. Boulders, limestone cliff faces, hanging graves and caves are the places for teens and adults. Those places need a process that takes up to a year to complete and is particularly costly. Graves’s markings range from simple wooden doors to ornate tau taus (sculptures), or carved wooden effigies. Particularly for Babies, they are buried in the hollows of trees and their corpses are eventually subsumed by the living bark. It is different in Makassar. The Makassarese buries the dead person in land. The people in Makassar believe that humans are from the soil, so they have to be taken back to the soil. They don’t need to make ornaments or tau-tau for the grave. They just need to prepare wood that has been engraved by the name of the corpse this wood is the marker of grave to easier the relatives who someday would like to visit the tomb.

The second distinction is about the time for burying the deceased. For Torajanese, when there is a Torajan dies, they do not bury the corpse immediately but stored in a traditional house - or Tongkonan, as locals call it - under the same roof with his or her kin. Torajans consider the person to be merely suffering from an illness and not truly dead until the moment his funeral when the first buffalo is sacrificed; then their spirit can begin its journey to the Land of Souls. The deceased is stored in a certain time. Some Torajanese say that the corpse will be stored in Tongkonan untik the families of the deceased are sure that they are ready enough to conduct the funeral party physically, mentally and financially. It can take some months even a year, they said. In the contrary, the Makassarese does diversely. When there is someone who dies, the family has to bury him as soon as possible, even the process of the party will take longer time. There will be no temporary haven for the corpse like Torajanese does. They think that, the longer the deceased stay, the more sin he will get.

The last dissimilar thing to find between those two ethnic groups above is in the process of the funeral party. When there is a Torajan dies, family members of the deceased are required to hold a series of funeral rituals that usually last for several days.. The family of the deceased should afford at least tens of buffaloes and pigs for the ceremony. The visitors and the family members of the deceased chant a 'mournful tune' known locally as ma'badong, at packed site of the buffaloes' nemesis. The most exciting part of the ceremony is the buffalo fights and slaughter. Family members are required to slaughter buffaloes and pigs as they believe that the spirit of the deceased will live peacefully thereafter, continuing to herd the buffaloes that have come to join him or her. The buffalo fighting draws much attention from the locals and visitors who crowd to catch a glimpse. Cheering and applause is heard all around when the buffaloes are fighting. The fighting buffaloes are then slaughtered, and the meat distributed to the funeral visitors. Distribution is carried out in accordance to visitors' positions in the community, and the spirit of the deceased is also entitled to a portion of meat, known locally as Aluk Todolo. The heads of the buffaloes are returned to what is locally known as puya (a site for the soul or spirit of the dead person) and their horns placed in front of the house of the kin. The more horns decorate at the front of the house, the higher the status of the deceased has.

Those all things above absolutely different with the process of funeral ceremony conducted in Makassar. Torajans seem to celebrate the funeral ceremony mostly in happy conditions. This is probably due to the time for conducting the ceremony is very far from the time of the death. In Makassar, since the time of funeral ceremony begins at the time of the death, so all rituals are conducted in sadness. Started when the first time the people surroundings hear about the death information of their neighbors, they will directly cry while walking to the house of the deceased. It is done as a symbol of their intimacy. They express their sense of loss by crying.  The saddest thing happened when the deceased will be taken to the grave, particularly when eight guys do “A’rate”, praying for the safety of corpse. All the family members and the visitors will cry loudly. We will see a very touchy moment, seeing the feeling of the family members of deceased who feels unready to be left. The other interesting one also happens during 40 nights reading the Holy Qur’an. All of the visitors comes and read the Qur’an together. The family members have to serve not only with the snacks but also with the complete dinner. Another special thing in this moment is “Toli Kiama reading”. “Toli Kiama” is a book that can be read only for funeral ceremony that tells about the process of the death and the life in hereafter. The man who reads this book sometimes cries when he is reading it. It again makes the family members cry. The most waiting time for these rituals is the last day. The day when all the family members should provide all new home furniture, foods, beverages, cakes and clothes, which are finally given to the priest (Anrong Guru)who is responsible in leading all funeral rituals in the house. The more expensive the things the family provides the higher status that the deceased has.

In conclusion, Although Torajanese and Makassarese are under the same province, namely South Sulawesi, but of course they still have some similarities and differences particularly in handling about the funeral party. They may have the same things in terms of the amount of expenses spent during the ceremony, the duration time in handling it and the belief of the bringing, but they still have diverse things in some aspects. They have their own beliefs in deciding about the place, the time and the process of burial. Of course, they cannot be separated because of the diversity. But, the diversity will vary their life.