Marek Cliffs
The residents of Tana Toraja do not bury coffins underground. After the funeral ceremony, they bury their loved ones much higher, in the mountains. The most traditional way of burials is to hang ornate, oval coffins high on the vertical cliffs of the above mountains. This method is very well known from China and no wonder, the inhabitants of Tana Toraja came here centuries ago from the Middle Kingdom.
Continued under the carousel with photos.
Coffins are lying here on wooden platforms attached to vertical rock, or placed in rock bends, if only they are large enough to accommodate the chests. Regardless of the method of hanging coffins, it is difficult to think how these people, using primitive techniques, managed to get to such inaccessible places. We will probably never know. There were never records in Toraya.
The coffins are very old, some of them have been damaged a long time ago, some have fallen apart completely. As a result, the foothills of the mountains are strewn with the mortal remains of the dead, bones whitening in the sun. Nobody touches these leftovers here. They will lie here until they crumble into dust.
Caves
Over time, when several hundred years of knowledge about climbing were forgotten, the inhabitants of Tana Toraja began to bury the dead in caves. There are plenty of them here. They are low–vaulted, full of narrow passages, but determination meant that no inconveniences prevented ritual burials. Coffins are also placed on platforms here. Everywhere, on accessible rock shelves or wooden platforms attached to the rock material. The background is only very low. A meter, sometimes one and a half meters above the ground.
Here you can see that the coffins are clearly different from those hung high on the rock. They are modern and very little different from those we use in our country. The older ones have cracked a long time ago, some of them are damaged, some of them are spilling bones. Some of them are laid out on rock shelves, others lie in disorder on the ground. The bone–strewn caves can be compared to the catacombs of Paris. However, here you can contemplate this unusual cemetery in solitude. There are few tourists and you don‘t have to squeeze between curious people.
This is where something new comes in. Tau Tau, which will be discussed later, under the carousel with photos.
Rock bay windows
With the passage of time, souls began to be perceived as something material that needed to be cared for after death. Tau Tau, wooden figures representing the dead, which are inhabited by their souls, began to be created. Depending on who they were created by, they can be a real masterpiece, in other cases they are very simple. In any case, they are worth contemplating, for in each of them sleeps the soul of one of the deceased Royal Men.
Parallel to cave burials, people are buried in bay windows on the cliff walls. It is a combination of tradition and modernity. The bodies of the dead are buried high above the ground and at the same time are invisible to the eye of an average passer–by (bay windows are closed with wooden plates). Here, each of the deceased is accompanied by his Tau Tau. It resembles a columbarium, i.e. a wall in which we bury urns with the ashes of our deceased.
Continued under the carousel with photos.
Trees
Completely separate customs apply to deceased small (up to three years of age) children. These are hidden in niches hollowed out in tree trunks. Over time, they grow into the wood and become barely visible. Bodies, as the tree grows, hover higher and higher above the ground over time. As you will see in one of the photos above, in one trunk, you can find many graves cut down.
This is the end of the story of a place called Tana Toraja, inhabited by the Royal People. If you are ever in Indonesia, don‘t forget to visit this place. You can get there from the seaside town of Makassar. If you are lucky, you will take part in the funeral ceremony. In this case, don‘t forget to take a gift with you. All you need is a carton of cigarettes.
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