Toraja One Of The Famous Tribes In Indonesia

Toraja tribe is one of thousands tribes in Indonesia that live at northern side of mountain in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Its’ population are about 1 million people. The word Toraja comes from Bugis’ languange, "To Riaja" that means "The people who live in Upper Land". The Dutch Government gave the name of this tribe as Toraja at 1909. Toraja tribes then well known for some unique cultures, such as: Funeral Ceremony, Traditional House "Tongkonan" and also their handicrafts or wood engraving.

The Funeral Ceremony

For Toraja tribes, funeral ceremony is the most important and expensive ritual. The cost of funeral ceremony will be getting more expensive for rich people and nobleman. In "Aluk" religion, only a nobleman can hold big funeral ceremony. The funeral ceremony of nobleman usually attended by thousands of people and lasted for several days.

They also used to perform a dance on several occasions, mostly in funeral ceremony. They do that dance to show their grief and honor to people who have died.

Toraja’s traditional music instrument is bamboo flute, called Pa'suling. Six holes flute is played at many dances, such as Ma'bondensan dance. Toraja tribes have another traditional musical instrument like Pa'pelle, the flute that made ​​from palm leaves and played at harvest time and at the opening of house ceremonial.

TONGKONAN

Tongkonan, is Toraja's traditional house that built above woodpile and decorated by red, black or yellow engraving. The words "Tongkonan" comes from Toraja's language, means sit. "Tongkonan" is a center of social activity for Toraja tribes. There are 3 kinds of "Tongkonan":

1.    "Tongkonan Layuk" is a place for The Chieftain of Toraja tribes

2.    "Tongkonan Pekamberan" is a place for some people who have authority

3.    "Tongkonan Batu" is a place for the ordinary people

WOOD ENGRAVING

Just because of Toraja’s language can only be spoken but can't be written, so to show the concept of their sociality and religion, Toraja tribes have wood engraving that shows the culture of Toraja, and they call it Pa'ssura.

Every Toraja’s engraving has special meaning. There are many kinds of theme for wood engraving, such as animal and plant, which symbolize The Gods. For example, crab and frog symbolized fertility; buffalo which symbolized wealth, means the family will get many buffalos; vertices and box symbolized peace. So Toraja’s people hope that their family will live in peace and happily. The Toraja’s wood engraving is very abstract and geometric.