Sulawesi - Formally Known As The Celebes

Grandfather with Kids before the start of the ceremony

On the 4^th September I (finally) left Bali for Sulawesi. It’s Funeral Season here so I headed straight to a town called Rantepao which is in the Tana Toraja region. I want to see what goes on. I was lucky, having landed at 10am, I took a motorcycle taxi east on the road in front of the airport and I managed to catch up with the 10am bus at its first stop. The result: a deep sleep on an air-conditioned bus driving north for 8hrs. Talk about perfect timing: catching up on lost sleep from the last weekend in Bali and not being conscious for the whole length of the long journey.

Men drinking coffee and eating sweets before the Ceremony

The first thing you notice about Sulawesi is that it is Muslim; unlike its sister island Bali, which is Hindu. But the Balinese smile seems to have rubbed off onto these neighbors and they too seem to be just as friendly. The area I am in now is a mix of Muslim and Protestant and as I write tonight I can hear the mosques calling for prayer.

Preparing of the posts the Sacrificed Buffalo will be tied to

As soon as I landed in Sulawesi I just knew that I had to go ahead with my original ‘Sulawesi to Papua’ through the Spice Islands trip but first I must return to Bali to meet up with Sacha Malhame an old pal from London who arrives on the 21^st September. So excited can’t wait to see her.

The Buffalo are presented to the crowd

Tana Torajo is a stunning area. A cultural spot hemmed in by mountains on all sides. The Toraja people believe in life after death and take their funerals seriously. They live simply, it's all about the Funeral and their beloved status symbol, the buffalo. If the funeral ceremonies are not done, they believe their dead relatives will come back to haunt them. The dead are buried in caves, holes carved out of massive boulders or cliff faces and Tau Tau (wooden effigies) are used to guard the entrance of the cave however due to theft these are now kept at home. This area has not seen many tourists lately mainly due to the western ban on all Local Indonesian flights. If you fly here, you do so without insurance.

The coffin and kids watching the ceremony from above

I arrived in Rantepao at 7pm. I was lucky to simultaneously find a guest house and an amiable guide called ‘Uchu’ who led me to a ‘decent’ restaurant for dinner. Decent because the food was supposed to be OK a fact backed up by other tourists who frequent the place nonetheless I did wake up at 2am with a bad stomachache.

The Kill

This morning Uchu picked me up at 8am and it was off to a Buffalo sacrifice in honor of a dead villager. Again, the bodies are kept in the house until enough money is gathered for the ceremonies that must follow. And boy we are talking of major expense. Around 20 Buffalo are slaughtered along with 200 pigs. Just to give you an idea a buffalo can cost the same as a small car. They keep the bodies in the southern most room of the house as they believe the dead head south. They have a private ceremony as soon as the person dies and during the period when the body is embalmed and kept in a coffin on the bed in that room they refer to the person as being sick. Each day the relatives bring a little food and water to the coffin as a gesture.

Defiance (a couple of cuts to the neck)

The Ceremony can take days and includes the receiving of guests, the slaughter of the buffalo and besides other events buffalo fighting. One can be invited to meet the dead person before a ceremony. It is considered an honor to be invited and if you are honored with this invitation you must treat the dead person as though they are alive and ask their permission to leave before you do so. I met two young Americans at the buffalo sacrifice today, Sue and Meagan and they've been invited yo meet a deceased person tomorrow. I may ask to join them…. we'll see.

The aftermath, the man on the right is cleaning the bllod off his knive on that dead buffalo

This morning we drove a short way out of Rantepao and into the surrounding countryside. It was muddy and I was wearing flip flops not great but I was not prepared to spoil my hiking boots in an area, well, that would include blood…

Knife Sharpening - The buffalo were skinned and cut up on site the meat then shared between the villages from which the relatives came from.

It was pretty impressive. A bit of a strong experience on a bad stomach. The pigs had been slaughtered yesterday and today it was the day of the Buffalo. The pictures should tell the story.

The Last Moments