Toraja people was have unique traditional ceremony thats its interesting to be seen, its called Rambu Solo. Rambu Solo is customary ritual death in Tana Toraja society that aims to respect the spirit and the people who deliver death to the spirit, which is returned to the immortality with their ancestors in a health resort, called Puya, which is located in the south where people live. The ceremony is often also called the completion ceremony of death. Therefore, local people consider this very important ceremony, because perfection ceremony will determine the position of this spirit is the person who died, the soul reaches the level of the gods (to-membali puang), or become a patron deity (deata). In this context, the ritual signs Solo into a "duty". In the beliefs of Aluk, soul of someone who died must be delivered so that he can reach heaven (puyo). Rambu Solo is a delivery. If family did not carry Rambu Solo, soul of the deceased will be rumble. So with all the power efforts, a certain kinship will conduct this ceremony.
If kinship do not have cost to implement them soon after
death, they may collect money first. But before the funeral held, the dead
considered as only a sick or weak. The body of the dead still keep it in the
house, they embalm, still given food and drink, even ask the dead to talk as
always, sometimes staying at home for years until they can afford a proper send
off. The funeral was determined by social status of the family who died,
measured by the number of animals sacrificed. More and more high social status
of people who died, the great ritual has to be held. The large ceremony was
measured from number of animals slaughtered. A noble kinship will slaughter
between 24 up to 100 buffalos. Middle status will slaughter eight buffalos and
50 pigs enough.
The reason that the buffalo sacrifice is so important is
that the Toraja people believe the buffalo leads the deceased on to their
afterlife. Right before the buffalo is killed, the body is turned to face
south. They believe the body must be facing south when the buffalo dies so they
can travel together to their next life. Once the buffalo sacrifices have
occurred, the body is then ready to be buried. Buffalo in Indonesia are very
expensive and it can sometimes take the family a long time to raise the money
to throw a proper funeral. When the funeral will held, people of Tana Toraja
focus all of their time and money on funerals for their loved ones, the funeral
preparations spend cost a fortune, thats why some paople say that Tana Toraja
is one of the most expensive places to die. Most of the people at Toraja are
Christian, but they mix many of their cultural believes with Christianity. When
someone in a family dies, that person is given a big party at their house.
Bamboo structures are built, seating areas are made, and the homes literally
turn into compounds to support visitors of the dead. Family and friends come,
usually bearing gifts for the family, and are welcomed with tea, coffee and
biscuits. The funeral lasts all day (with the burial happening the day after)
and the main event is the slaughtering of a buffalo. The number of buffalo a
family slaughters shows their social status and how much money they have. At
some small funerals, only a few buffalo are sacrificed, while at large ones,
there can be up to 100 killed over the course of a few days. Live pigs are also
given as gifts to the family and those are killed as well and grilled up in the
back to feed all of the guests. In addition, there are also various cultural
performances on view, among them such as : buffalo fight (mappasilaga tedong),
the buffalo to be sacrificed will be fight before slice; and compete feet
(sisemba).
Various interesting activities are held during the ceremony
of Rambu Solo are :
- Sisemba. People compete their foot or leg each other.
- Dances ritus of Rambu Solo, namely ma'badong, ma'dondi, ma'randing, ma'katia, ma'papanggan, and massailo. On ma'badong, guests were standing around while holding onto hands. Then they sing and dance together. Strain of their song describes the sadness.
- Instrumental music called pa'pompang, pa'dalidali and unnosong.
- Matinggoro tedong (slaughter the buffalo). How to slaughter the buffalo on this ceremony is unique, cut the neck with a single swing of chopper. Buffalo is first tethered on a stone called simbuang batu. Buffalo butcher (patinggoro tedong) swing the chopper in a moment.
- At the peak of the event, ma'balun ritual is held, (enwrap the corpse), ma'roto (set of gold and silver thread ornaments on the chest), ma'parokko alang (to mow down the corpse to be buried), and ma'palao (bring the corpse to the funeral). When corpse is delivered, red cloth spread out cover the family.
Each funeral is carried out in two parts: the first ceremony
(dipalambi'i) occurs just after death in the tongkonan house. The second and
larger ceremony may occur months or even years after the death. Nowdays the
ceremony has become a magnet custom tour of South Sulawesi Province and eastern
Indonesia. Tana Toraja is known to foreign tourists since 1960. Tourism
information from Tana Toraja rituals that are unmatch in the world. Rambu Solo
ritual is the traditional funeral ceremony ancestors with Sapu Randanan, and
Tombi Saratu. In addition well known as MaNene ceremonial rites and Rambu Tuka.
Ceremony Rambu Solo and Rambu Tuka accompanied by dance and music typical
Toraja for days. Rambu Tuka is customary ceremony into a new house called
Tongkonan or a complete renovation the house once in 50 or 60 years. This ceremony
reflects the life of Toraja people who like mutual help, familial, have social
strata, and respect their parents, fammily and ancestor. About buffalo race, on
one side of a tourist attraction, but on the other side, especially buffalo
Bule (Tedong Bonga) the cut will accelerate the extinction of the buffalo.
Moreover, including the Bonga Tedong mud buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) which is a
species found only in Toraja. Visiting the funeral while in the area is the
best way to see the culture up close. You may think, isn’t that invasive going
to a funeral of someone you don’t know, but the people in the area are very
used to tourists coming and welcome them as regular guests like everyone else.[bp]
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