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Toraja

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Peoples

   Toraja
   Torajan house (tongkonan)
   Total population 650,000
   Regions with significant populations West Sulawesi, South Sulawesi
   Language Toraja-Sa'dan (no writing, belong to Austronesian family)
   Religion Protestant: 65.15%, Catholic: 16.97%, Islam: 5.99% and Torajan
   Hindu (Aluk To Dolo): 5.99%.
   Related ethnic groups Bugis, Makassarese

   The Toraja (or Torajans) are an ethnic group indigenous to a
   mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The population is
   approximately 650,000, of which 450,000 still live in Tana Toraja (or
   the land of Toraja) Regency. The majority of the population is
   Christian, with Muslim and local animist beliefs, called aluk (the
   way), as minorities. The Indonesian government has recognized this
   animist belief as Aluk To Dolo (or the way of ancestors).

   The word toraja comes from the Bugis language: to ri aja means "people
   of the uplands" or "people up river". It also comes from the
   Makassarese language: to and raja, meaning "people up north". The Dutch
   colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are
   famous for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into
   rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as
   tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Torajan funeral rites are major
   social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and last for
   several days.

   Prior to the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages
   practising animism, relatively untouched by the outside world. Dutch
   missionaries began working to convert Toraja highlanders to
   Christianity in the early 1900s. When Tana Toraja was further opened to
   the outside world in the 1970s, Toraja became an icon of tourism in
   Indonesia, exploited by tourism developers and studied by many
   anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism was at its peak, Toraja
   socioculture had evolved significantly from an agricultural society, in
   which social life and habits were outgrowths of aluk to dolo, into a
   largely Christianized society in which tourism is an important factor.

History

   Location of Toraja (green) among Makassarese (yellow) and Bugis (red)
   on Sulawesi island
   Enlarge
   Location of Toraja (green) among Makassarese (yellow) and Bugis (red)
   on Sulawesi island

   Dr. C. Cruyt, an anthropologists, has investigated that the origin of
   Torajans is Tongkin Bay, in mainland China. There have been a long
   acculturation process of local Malay people in Sulawesi with this
   Chinese immigrants. At first, the immigrants lived on the island's
   shore, near Enrekang Bay, and then they moved upland. The Bugis and
   Makassarese, who constitute a majority of lowland southern Sulawesi
   people, referred only as "to ri aja" (people upland) or "to raja"
   (people up north) for the Torajans.

   Since the 17th century, the Dutch has established trade and political
   control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over 2
   centuries, they ignored this upland people due to their inaccessibility
   and the unproductive agricultural prospects of their mountainous area.
   In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about
   the spread of Islam in South Sulawesi, especially among Makassarese
   people. They saw the animist highlanders as a pool of potential
   Christians. In 1909, the Association of Dutch Reformed Missionaries
   (GZB) began missionary work by the help of the Dutch colonial
   government. Besides introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished
   slavery, who is one of the Torajan social class (see Society section
   below), and applied local taxes. A line was drawn around Sa'dan area
   and called it as Tana Toraja (or the land of Toraja). Here the name of
   Toraja was born. The name was not taken from the Torajan language
   itself, but rather from the outsider view. Tana Toraja was first a
   subdivision of the state of Bugis, Luwu, because Bugis claimed that
   area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja as a regentschap.

   Early Dutch missionaries has faced strong opposition, especially among
   the elite Torajans. The abolishment of slavery angered them, as they
   could not profit from the slave trade anymore. Many Torajan nobles were
   jailed or killed by the Dutch because they refused to obey the colonial
   authority. Some of the Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowland
   by the Dutch, where they could be easily controlled. Taxes were kept
   high, jeopardizing the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch
   failed to subdue Torajan's culture and only a few Torajans were
   converted.

   In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in
   widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align
   themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a
   movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. After Indonesian
   independence (1951-1965), South Sulawesi faced a separatist movement (
   Darul Islam) aimed at making an Islamic state of Sulawesi. Darul Islam
   has killed 10,000 people, including Christians and aluk Torajans. In
   this period, massive conversions to Christianity took place. Following
   the fall of Indonesian Communist Party in 1965, more and more Torajans
   were converted to either Christianity or Islam, because of the massacre
   of any people considered atheist, including animists.

   Yet, alignment with the Indonesian government itself did not always
   guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a Presidential Decree was
   introduced that required every citizen to belong to one of the six
   official religions: Islam, Christianity ( Protestantism, Catholicism),
   Hinduism, Buddhism, or Confucianism. Torajans, who still hold their
   original belief (aluk), are not officially recognized and they
   protested against this law. In an agreement to make aluk in concordance
   with the law, aluk had to accept as part of the one official religions.
   In 1969, Aluk To Dolo (the law of ancestors) was legalized as a sect of
   Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.

Society

   Three types of affiliation exist in Torajan society: family, class and
   religion.

Family affiliation

   A Torajan village.
   Enlarge
   A Torajan village.

   The family is the primary social and political grouping, as each
   village was one extended family. The family seat in each village is the
   tongkonan, a traditional Toraja house. Each tongkonan has its own name
   and this becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain
   village unity. Intermarriage between cousins is common in order to
   maintain a strong kinship community. Even children's names are given
   based on kinship. Children are named after dead relatives. Thus aunts,
   uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers,
   fathers and siblings. Strong kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning
   the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and
   pay off debts. Children inherit household affiliation from both their
   mother and their father, including land and family debts.

   Each Torajan village was autonomous in terms of authority. In a more
   complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their
   problems alone, several villages formed a group. Some villages united
   against other villages for different reasons. For example, several
   sided with the Dutch against the lowlanders. Others fought the Dutch.
   Traditional animists and Christian Torajans sometimes united against
   Muslims. At other times, all Torajans (including Muslims) united
   against the Bugis people.

Class affiliation

   Torajan kids in Maruang
   Enlarge
   Torajan kids in Maruang

   In early Torajan society, family relationships were tied closely to
   social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves,
   although the latter was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies
   government. Class was inherited through the mother. Therefore it was a
   strong taboo to marry "down" with a woman from lower class. On the
   other hand, marrying a woman from a higher class could improve the
   status of the next generation.

   The nobility's condescending attitude towards the commoners was present
   as late as the 1950s, and the nobility is still maintained for reasons
   of family prestige. The nobility, who are said to be direct descendants
   of a person (to manurun) descended from heaven, lived in tongkonans,
   while commoners lived in less lavish houses. Slaves lived in small
   huts, which must be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners
   might marry with anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to
   maintain their status. Sometimes nobles were married with Bugis or
   Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having
   death feasts. Despite the close kinship and status inheritance, there
   was a certain degree of social mobility, as marriage could change
   someone's status, or the status could be changed as they lost or gained
   wealth. Wealth is counted by the number of water buffalos that someone
   has. During a funeral, this "wealth" is slaughtered.

   Slaves in Toraja were family's property. Sometimes Torajans decided
   themselves to become slaves when they had a debt, pledging to work as
   payment. Slaves could be possessed during wars, and slave trading was
   common. Slaves could buy their freedom back, but their children still
   inherited slave status. Slave life was the lowest, and in Sa'dan area,
   slaves ate dogmeat. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze and
   gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their
   owners, or having sex with free woman. The last crime was punishable by
   death.

Religion affiliation

   Torajan indigenous belief is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or the
   law. In Torajan myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from
   heaven by using a stair. This stair was then used by the Torajan as a
   communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos,
   according to aluk, is divided into the upper world, the world of man,
   and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there
   was a darkness, a separation, and, finally, the light. Beside Puang
   Matua, there are also Pong Banggai di Rante (God of Earth), Indo'
   Ongon-Ongon (Goddess who can cause earthquake), Pong Lalondong (God of
   death), Indo' Belo Tumbang (Goddess of medicine), and many more.

   The authority, whose words and actions should be taken both in life
   (agriculture) and death ( funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk
   priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law,
   religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices,
   dealing with ancestral, rituals, etc. Details of aluk may vary from one
   village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and
   life rituals must be separated. The Torajan believe that performing
   death rituals might ruin their corpses when it is combined with life
   rituals. Both death and life rituals are equally important. However,
   the Dutch, through their Christian missionaries, prohibited Torajan
   Christians from attending or performing life rituals, while allowing
   them to perform death rituals. As a result, Torajan death rituals are
   still practiced until today, while life rituals diminished.

Culture

Tongkonan

   A tongkonan with colorful decorations on the wall.
   Enlarge
   A tongkonan with colorful decorations on the wall.

   Tongkonan is the traditional Torajan house, a family house made by
   bamboo with a distinguished boat-shaped roof. The word tongkonan is
   from the Torajan language's tongkon, or to sit. The construction of
   tongkonan is a laborious work and it is usually built with the help of
   all family members. In the original Toraja society, only nobles had the
   right to build tongkonan. Commoners live in less decorated homes (
   bamboo shacks), called banua.

   According to the Torajan myth, the first tongkonan house was built in
   heaven by Puang Matua, the Creator. It was built on four poles and the
   roof was made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor
   descended to earth, he imitated the heavenly house and held a big
   ceremony. The distinguished boat-shaped roof represents prayer to the
   sky, where heaven is located. The outside wall of tongkonan is
   decorated by red, black, and yellow colored wood, with patterns carved
   into it.

   There are three types of tongkonan. Tongkonan layuk is the house of the
   highest authority and it is used as the centre of government. The
   second type is tongkonan pekamberan, which belongs to the family group
   members, who have some authorities in local traditions (known as adat).
   The last one is tongkonan batu, which belongs to the ordinary family
   members.

Wood carvings

   A Torajan wood carving. Each panel symbolizes a goodwill.
   Enlarge
   A Torajan wood carving. Each panel symbolizes a goodwill.

   The Torajan language is only spoken; no writing system exists. To
   express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it
   Pa'ssura (or the writing). The carvings' motifs are usually taken from
   animals and plants, and they are symbols of some goodwill. For example,
   water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds,
   symbolize fertility.

   The left image shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of
   15 square panels. The centre bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth,
   because they wish a lot of buffalos for their family. The centre panel
   represents a knot and a box. It is a hope that all of their offspring
   will be happy and live in harmony, just like goods that are kept safe
   in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic
   animal, which moves on the water surface, indicating the need for hard
   and fast work to obtain good results, and sometimes fertility. It also
   represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.

   Regularity and order are common features in Torajan wood carving (see
   table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature,
   that is used as the basis of Torajan ornaments, is full of abstractions
   and geometries, but there are regularities and ordering inside. The
   Torajan ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal its
   mathematical structure, but Torajans make these arts only based on some
   approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a
   geometrical tool.

                            Some Torajan patterns

   pa'tedong(buffalo)
   Enlarge
   pa'tedong
   (buffalo)

   pa'barre allo(the sun and its rays)
   Enlarge
   pa'barre allo
   (the sun and its rays)

   pa're'po' sanguba(dancing alone)
   Enlarge
   pa're'po' sanguba
   (dancing alone)

   ne'limbongan(the legendary designer)
   Enlarge
   ne'limbongan
   (the legendary designer)

               Images above were rasterized from Sande (1989).

Funeral rite

   A stone carved burial site. Tau tau (effigies of the deceased) were put
   in the cave, facing down the land.
   Enlarge
   A stone carved burial site. Tau tau (effigies of the deceased) were put
   in the cave, facing down the land.

   In Torajan society, funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive
   event. The richer and more powerful an individual, the more expensive
   his or her funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles who have the
   right to have an extensive death feast. However, today, as many
   Torajans have migrated to work in many oilwells in Kalimantan, there
   are many funeral rites, performed for rich commoner persons.

   Often the death feast and burial are held years after the actual death,
   because the deceased family has to raise significant funds to cover the
   funeral expenses. Traditionally, the Torajan believe that death is not
   a sudden abrupt event, but rather a gradual process toward Puya (the
   land of souls) or the afterlife. Embalming is usually performed by
   formalin injection. The corpse is kept in the house or the tongkonan
   until the funeral ritual.

   The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands of
   people and lasts for several days. The most noticeable component in the
   ritual is buffalos. The more powerful the person who died, the more
   buffalos are slaughtered at their death feast. Buffalo carcasses,
   including their heads, are usually lined on a field, waiting for their
   owner who is in the sleeping stage. The Torajan believe that a person
   who has died will need to make a journey, and they will be carried by
   the buffalos he or she had in life.

   There are three methods of burial of a Torajan people. The coffin,
   including any possessions which will be needed in the afterlife, will
   be either put in a cave grave, a stone grave, or hung on a cliff. The
   wealthy are often buried in a stone grave, carved out of the rocky
   cliff, which usually costs a lot of money and takes some months to
   complete. In some places, the stone cave is enough to accommodate the
   whole family. A wooden carved effigy, called tau tau, is usually put in
   the cave and faced down over the land. Unfortunately, these tau tau
   have been targeted by grave robbers for antique collectors. One unique
   type of burial is to hang the coffin by ropes on a cliff face. This
   hanging grave usually lasts for some years, until the ropes rot and the
   coffin falls to the ground below. Coffins of babies and children are
   hung from trees.

Language

   The ethnic Torajan language is dominant in Tana Toraja, although the
   national Indonesian language is also spoken in the community. All
   elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Torajan language. There are
   many denominations of the language: Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo'
   , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan. All of them belong to the
   Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. Each
   denomination has its own dialects, as seen in the table below.

   CAPTION: Torajan language denominations and dialects.

   Denominations ISO 639-3 Population (as of) Dialects
   Kalumpang kli 12,000 (1991) Karataun, Mablei, Mangki (E'da), Bone Hau
   (Ta'da).
   Mamasa mqj 100,000 (1991) Northern Mamasa, Central Mamasa, Pattae'
   (Southern Mamasa, Patta' Binuang, Binuang, Tae',
   Binuang-Paki-Batetanga-Anteapi)
   Ta'e rob 250,000 (1992) Rongkong, Northeast Luwu, South Luwu, Bua.
   Talondo' tln 500 (1986)
   Toala' tlz 30,000 (1983) Toala', Palili'.
   Torajan-Sa'dan sda 500,000 (1990) Makale (Tallulembangna), Rantepao
   (Kesu'), Toraja Barat (West Toraja, Mappa-Pana).
   Source: Gordon (2005).

   Dialects in Torajan languages have been affected by influences from
   other languages. For example, Rongkong and Bua dialects of Tae'
   language are a product of mixing Bugis, Tae' and Java languages. This
   was caused by the transmigration program that was proposed in the
   colonialism era by the Dutch East Indies.

Economy

   During the Dutch colonial period (1909-1946), Torajan economy was based
   on agriculture with cultivated wet rice in terraced fiords on mountain
   slopes, and other supplemental crops, such as cassava and maize.
   Livestocks of water buffalos, pigs, and chickens were also produced,
   mainly for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. This agricultural
   based economy was maintained until the New Order era that started in
   1965.

   During the New Order era, Soeharto, the president of Indonesia at that
   time, developed and expanded foreign investments in Indonesia.
   Multinational corporations of oil and mining companies (gold, coal,
   steel, copper, etc.) opened new mining sites in Indonesia, including on
   mineral-rich Kalimantan island. These corporations needed highly
   motivated, educated and underemployed labor workers. Being close to
   Kalimantan, young Torajans were directly attracted to work at these
   foreign companies. This created a large number of out-migrations that
   had affected Torajan economy. When Tana Toraja was opened for tourism
   in 1984, economy in Toraja gradually shifted to the tourism industry.
   In the 1980s and 1990s, especially, many Torajans depended on their
   income from tourism, by working in hotels, as tour guides or selling
   souvenirs. However, most young Torajans are still attracted to work in
   mining or oil companies, as their income is bigger and they can even
   support their families in Tana Toraja. With the rise of political and
   economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as
   well as recent inter-religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi, tourism
   to Tana Toraja has plunged in recent years.

Commercialization

   A Torajan tomb in a high rocky cliff. It is one example of tourist
   attractions in Tana Toraja.
   Enlarge
   A Torajan tomb in a high rocky cliff. It is one example of tourist
   attractions in Tana Toraja.

   Before the 1970s, Toraja was virtually unknown to Western tourism. In
   1971, about fifty Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400
   visitors attended a funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the
   highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja, which was documented by a
   British film crew and then televised in several European countries. In
   1976, about 12,000 tourists may have visited the regency and in 1981,
   Toraja sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The
   land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the
   exhibition brochure, embraced the outside word.

   In 1984, the Ministry of Tourism of Indonesia declared Tana Toraja
   Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was then
   heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing
   dramatically. In 1985, the number of foreign visitors have increased to
   150,000, excluding 80,000 domestic tourists. By 1987, tourists to Tana
   Toraja numbered 179,948 annually. Souvenir stands showed up in Rantepao
   and at the most visited tourist sites, roads were paved, and new hotels
   and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened. An airstrip was opened in
   the regency in 1981. Finally, by the mid 1990s, some tourists were
   starting to feel that Toraja was too commercialized.

   In 1985 the South Sulawesi provincial government provincial government
   recognized eighteen Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional
   tourist objects. With this came the introduction of zoning restrictions
   for these sites such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing
   their tongkonans and burial sites. This plan was opposed by some
   Torajan leaders, as they felt their rituals and traditions were being
   determined by outsiders (tourism developers). As a result, in 1987, the
   Torajan village Kété Kesú and several other designated "tourist
   objects" closed their doors to tourists. This closure did not last more
   than a few days, as the villagers felt it was too difficult to survive
   without the income from selling souvenirs.

   Tourism has played a major role in the sociocultural evolution of
   Torajan society. In the original Torajan society, there was a ritual
   which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and gain nobility for
   their children. However, tourist imageries have changed such that
   Torajans are covering up their social status. High social status is not
   as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once before. Many low ranking citizens
   can gain enough wealth by working outside the region, and then marrying
   a noble woman to declare themselves, and their children, nobles.
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