Mini Guide to Indonesia
| December 5, 2018
Festivals
Funeral Rites in Tana Toraja
The Toraja people are famous for their unique burial rites. While they identify as Christians, in practice these rites are considered animists. When someone dies, the family may keep the body for years while they save for the funeral ceremony, called tomate. The festival can last up to a week, where ritual dances take place and buffalo and pigs are slaughtered to take the soul to the afterlife. The dead are placed in a tau tau effigy (mini wooden statue) and buried in a cave or hollowed tree.
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