THE PEOPLE

The population of Toraja is about 332,000 and it has a high rate of emigration by high school graduates seeking further education or jobs in the more urbanized areas of Sulawesi or the more develoved islands of Indonesia.

Population density is about 92 persons to a square km, most of whom are engaged in agriculture. All farms belong to smallholders. Rice is the main crop, and secondary crops are corn, peanuts, soyabean, cassava, sweet potatoes, vegetable, coffee, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla and fruit. The mountain grown coffee is exellent and alsowellknown is the passionfruit or marqisa which is processed for its jice, bottled and exported. Palmwine (tuak, or in Toraja ballok) which is found throughout South Sulawesi, is very common in Toraja being drunk in the ricefields as well as at festivals. It ranges from seet to sour, the latter having a red colour from a bark additive. Its pink foam can be seen bubbling from the long bamboo tubes carried by villagers going to rituals or to market. Fishery and animal husbandary are other means of lifelihood in this landlocked district.

The Torajans are belived to belong to the same Proto-Malay groups as the Dayaks of Kalimantan and the Bataks of Sumatra. However, there are many similarities ethnologically between them and the people of ancient Annam, from where they could have originated, migrating to the seas in their sailing boats which set the pattern for their tongkonan houses.

From early times, the society was divided into classes with the nobles at the top of the social structure and the slaves, who were either hereditary or enemies who, were captured in the battle, lowest ranking.

The caste system was widely practiced in Toraja and consiste of :

Tana’ bulaan referring to the noble class who functioned as adapt chiefs using titles such as Puang, siambe’ and ma’dika.

Tana’Bassi, the lower noble class of assistant adapt or traditional chiefs or members of the community councils.

Tana’ karurung the commeners, among them priests.

Tana’Kua-kua, the lowest class of slaves and workers, including the death priests or tomebalum.

Still practiced to same extent today, the caste system is a adhered to during traditional rituals, particularly the death ceremonies for which no one can aspire to rites intended for a higher caste.

The social structure allows equals right for men and women, especially in inheritance for which neither sex nor age is of any consideration. Division of inheritance dep[ens wholly on service to the deceased during his/her lifetime and the and the contributions made by members of the ramage, kinship group at the death ceremonies.

Hiltops were considered sacred by the Torajans as the first ancestors descended there, and village were formerly built on the summits. Fortified walls surrounded the villages, providing a defensive shield against enemies. However in the early parts of this century when Toraja came under Dutch rule, the people were ordred to move to more accessible valleys and plateaux. The village complex consist of separate farms, surrounded by paddyfields, the rante where the rites for the dead are held and the rocky clifft where the burial caves are located.

The village is further divided into two parts, high and low, each one forming a ceremonial bua’ circle unit.

Buffaloes represent a status symbol used chiefly for ceremonial purposes and are not considered as draft animals. They are slaughtered for sacrifice during the funeral ceremonies and the meat eaten. Pigs and chickens are also slaughtered and eaten at ceremonies, such as funerals and the consecration of new tongkonan.

As the death rituals are the most important ceremony in a person’s passage of life, wealth and power are important to attain the status needed to enter Puya (Land of Soul). So Torajans aspire to accumulate wealth through lolo tananan (plants), lolo patuan (animals) and lolo tau (children) which are the elements necessary to attain the power for the funeral ceremony.

The Torajans speak an Austronesians language related to that Bugis of South Sulawesi. Referred to as the Sa’dan Toraja Language, it is divided into thre dialects; the Makale-Rantepao dialect of east Toraja, in the west Saluputti-Bonggga Karadeng and in the south Sillanan-Gandang Batu. The language as used by the ritual priests differ from those used by the ordinary people and are sometimes diffiocult to undersatand.

Since Bahasa Indonesia is the language of instruction and administration it is understood and spoken by all, and English is becoming a popular second language in schools.

In spite of improved education and migration ti other parts of the country, the people of Toraja remain tid to their ramage and kinship groups, retuning for funerals and, if they should die away from their homeland, every efforts is made to return then for the ;last funeral rites.