Cliff Tomb of Toraja Tribe Natural 9Cemetery
For the Toraja people, death is not only about the departure of a person. There needs to be a sacred departure ceremony.
Tradition, South Sulawesi
The rock cliff feels different. He seemed to emit a sinister aura that was difficult to describe. Its height can reach tens of meters, with a thick dark color, and solidly towers over the hilly areas. In the vicinity is a stretch of rice fields, which in certain seasons show their beauty. In stark contrast to the black cliff above.
When viewed from a distance, the black granite cliff has holes that cover the entire cliff. The sizes also vary. To reach it, visitors must descend through the stairs from the top of the cliff. Along the way down stand souvenir stalls selling knick-knacks typical of there.
The cliff was no ordinary granite cliff. That place is a stone grave. And the holes in the cliffs were filled with human corpses. This funeral tradition is part of the customs of the Toraja people.
"The Toraja believe that death is not something that comes suddenly, but a gradual process towards Puya (the world of spirits or the afterlife)," Fajar Andrianto wrote in Toraja Culture.
For this reason, the Toraja people hold a funeral ceremony known as rambu solok. This ceremony is based on trust and belief in ancestors or called Aluk Todolo. The goal is to honor and deliver the spirits of the deceased to the spirit realm. The bereaved family will hold a party as a last tribute to the deceased.
According to Roni Ismail in "The Ritual of Death in the Indigenous Toraja Religion 'Aluk To Dolo': A Study of the Death Ceremony of Rambu Solok", Journal of Religion Vol. 15 No. 1, 2019, Toraja people believe that people who have died will still exist in the world of the living if they are not released with a rambu solok ceremony.
"If the death ceremony has not been carried out, then the person who died is only considered as a sick or weak person, and his body is still treated like a living person such as being laid on a bed, given food and drink, and even always being talked to by family members. ' wrote Ron.
Funeral services can be expensive and last for days. No wonder this ceremony is often held several months or even years after someone's death until the family is ready and has sufficient funds.
After the rambu solok ceremony, the bodies will be paraded and escorted to the lakkian (funeral complex) which is located on the cliff wall. Not only the family, the whole community will also walk to deliver the bodies to lakkian.
Throughout the province of South Sulawesi, there are scattered burial places for the ancestral cliffs of the Toraja people. One of them is the Lemo stone hill in Lemo Village, North Makale District, Tana Toraja Regency, South Sulawesi Province. Named Lemo because this stone burrow resembles a spotted lime.
Lemo has 75 ancient stone burrows or in the local language called liang paa', and each burrow is the grave of a family. From the outside, these graves look only holes, covered with wooden planks. The size of the hole is quite large, about 3 meters by 5 meters. While the height reaches tens of meters above ground level.
The body is put into a burrow using a ladder or pulled with a rope. The process of making the burrow is long and difficult because the rock must be carved by hand. Making a single hole can be expensive, with a turnaround time of six months to a year. No wonder the funeral in Toraja can be delayed for months or even years after the death of the person concerned.
This natural grave is decorated with rows of tau-tau (statues) as the personification of the person who has died as well as a symbol of the prestige and social status in question. The requirement to make tau-tau is to slaughter 24 buffaloes. The body of the statue is made of bamboo or jackfruit wood, the eyes are bone and buffalo horn.
According to Hendrik van Der Veen in The Sa'dan Toradja Chant for The Deceased, tau-tau or tatau can be made from bamboo poles tied together and wrapped in cloth – the use of jackfruit wood is thought to have come from the past. His face is also made of cloth. Tau-tau are dressed in beautiful clothes and decorated with ornaments. It is placed on top of the rice granary and when the body is brought to the party place, suddenly goes with it.
After the body is buried in a stone grave, the ornaments are stripped off and the tau-tau are placed in a niche near the protective fence in front of it. "When the ritual for the deceased has been completed and when his soul has gone to the Land of Souls, his spirit is manifested in tau-tau," says van Der Veen.
Meanwhile, Hetty Nooy-Palm in The Sa'dan-Toraja: A Study of Their Social Life and Religion mentions that tau-tau is made before the second stage of the funeral ritual begins. During the creation of the statue, the sculptor slept near (or even under) the house of the deceased. Sculpture work is also carried out around the house, perhaps even on the floor of the fence post across from the tongkonan (traditional Toraja house).
Once completed, the tau-tau is placed next to the person who died. Just like the deceased, they are given food (offerings). He remained around the corpse when slaughtering the buffalo. It is then placed in front of the grave (or on it) to keep the memories of the “past” ancestors alive.
“Every few years, the clothes are changed, usually before the burial of a new person,” explains Hetty Nooy-Palm.
The length of time for storing bodies in the hills varies. Some are only a few months, some are up to tens of years. This condition is adjusted to the economic capacity of each family.
The cliff grave in Lemo Village is the second oldest cemetery in Toraja after Songgi Patalo. This tomb was made around the 16th century. To reach this place, you can go through Rantepao, North Toraja, as far as 12 kilometers to the south. Or it could be through Makale as far as six kilometers to the north. On the side of the main road connecting Makale-Rantepao you will find a sign leading to the Lemo cliff.*
