took us 5 hours. bus rides in makassar are never boring. this time we passed by a really nice valley with the view of a mountain. and the weather was really cool because we're already halfway on top of a hill.
see what i mean? this picture does not do justice to how breathtaking the view is. you can see spots of house from above. and from where we're standing it's actually a restaurant, with the view of the mountain. after almost one and a half week of total work and labor our beloved lecturer took us to this much needed trip. breathtaking view, cool weather and restaurant with killer view? i couldn't ask for more.
tana toraja, also known as tator by the locals. this place is really chilly. i mean, it gets really cold to the point when you speak you see your breath. however it doesn't seem that way in the picture. see the mountain at the back of the houses? that's where the coffins are hang or placed.
that's real buffalo horns right there. the more horns there is, the richer and higher status the owners are. the architecture of toraja is really unique and it's really symbolic too. these houses don't usually stand alone, and there's usually a few of them in a place. during the past the bigger ones are houses (nowadays they live in concrete house but some still live in houses like these), and the smaller ones are used as a rice barn. if there's a death in the house the body is kept at the back of the house.
the miniature house is actually a coffin where the body is laid before the grand burial. the people of toraja are mostly christians but they still practice a really elaborate from of honoring the dead. the bodies are kept from either a year to 5 years, depending on how long it takes for the family to save money to buy buffaloes (one buffalo can cost up to 7 million rupiah or more) and all the necessary things ( the unique houses are built especially for the burial ceremony ) , and to make sure all family members, from overseas especially attends the funeral ceremony. for them, a funeral is a really happy and joyous occasion.
the coffins. some are hang on top , and some are placed just there. the higher the rank, the higher the coffin. these coffins are really really old, and most of them are rotten already because it's all made of wood. some of the hanging coffins has even collapsed, exposing all the skeletons inside. even the coffins has a symbolic meaning. if it's the shape of a pig it means the decease is a commoner, and if it's a buffalo head then the person comes from a upper class family.
we were taken to the market the next day. i felt as if i was transported into another world. the first thing that greets you is the sea of people and their buffalo's. at the background you can see it's the cold mist due to the weather. the people come here to buy buffaloes for the sacrificing ceremony for the funeral. albino buffaloes cost much more than the normal ones. we wore black thinking red would be a dangerous color but we were so wrong. buffaloes dislike black. and they were really agitated too, maybe because of the crowd. taking a picture with these buffaloes wasn't as pleasant as i thought.
there's a whole lot of cow dung. imagine the smell.
at the back of the market is where they sell pigs. when we were on our way walking into the area some of us nearly got knock by the pig on wheels. the workers were transporting the pigs and boy, is their business good. and there was a lot of pigs. there were tons of them, some all tied up, some still in their ranch. the tied up pigs were really scared, and when one tries to escape ( they used only leaves/grass to tie them up but it's really strong) the others would struggle to escape too. the noise that they make was really disturbing because the pigs seems to know that they're gonna die soon, and some of my friends got kinda upset because the sounds really really pierces your mind and you start contemplating to stop eating pork because of all the things the pigs goes through. basically the place was kind of dangerous. imagine if the buffaloes were to struggle and break free.
pigs on wheels.
the sacrifice ceremony. as i've mention before, it's a joyous occasion for them. buffaloes are slaughterer in front of the guest. we were late. by the time we reach they've already slaughtered the buffaloes. but somehow one of the stronger ones stood up, with neck all exposed because they slit it, and it tried to walk but fell again. the villagers will first cut the tail and the hooves and give it to the kids to play. the kids didn't seem to mind all the blood. the floor was extremely bloodied. the head will be given to the head of the village. and they took record time to skin the whole buffalo. within minutes the buffaloes was cut up into small pieces. we even saw one of the cut out buffalo's muscles moving i didn't know how to react to the camera. should i smile? or should i be sad? it's a funeral. animals are slaughtered alive. i gave a blank expression. poor pig. it was tied up there and i believe saw the whole cutting up process. a friend even ask me if the pig would feel afraid *it doesn't seem to be expressing any type of emotions though*, does it know it will be sacrifice soon?
the body
pretty sunsets while heading back to makassar. the journey took us 12 hours. and no, there's no option of taking the flight. only by vehicle.
the journey to makassar was a really bewildering experience for me. i'm pretty sure if it's not for the measured drawing i wouldn't have been able to experience all of this, especially the bus rides, and the journeys. toraja is a pretty famous touristy place and i guess there's guides who can bring you there.
going to makassar, bone, wajo and toraja was really an eye opener. now i can't wait for my next trip to vietnam. this time it'll be just me and my friends and i pray that we would get to experience the place like a local, like how we had it in makassar.
:)
Wow! These places are beautiful. You're so lucky to get to experience this!
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