Every culture has its own difference in celebrating something special whether its marriage, birthday, anniversary any kinds that involved crowds and lots of food, but when it comes to mourning something sad, a last farewell to the deceased, it's a little bit authentic. I'm a part of an authentic culture and it's just fascinating to me and also one of a unique tradition that I've ever encountered in my life.
Last year in July 2017, my grandmother's sister unfortunately pass away. So all of my family member was called to attain the funeral located in Toraja. I was excited first of all, because it is the first ceremony where I was representing my mother on behalf of my family. In Toraja, when a certain person died or called to the afterlife, the family usually held a gathering before the funeral. This gathering involved all of the family members. So it's more like a reunion and in this gathering, they discussed about rambu solo'. Rambu Solo' is a very important tradition in the ethnicity of our culture, it symbolizes the family wealth, reputation and social status. Some family with the reputation of being "royal" can be extremely generous in mourning the dead person. What I meant about that is usually, a sacrifice of a buffalo and pig is made. The amount of animal sacrificial done in rambu solo' is linear to the amount of wealth of the family.
For new people to this tradition might questioned why would there be an animal sacrifice for the death or why should we be celebrating instead of grieving. In my understanding of this culture by gathering information from the people in my village, the animals that were sacrificed was actually a form of transportation for the dead person to the afterlife or heaven. The more the better. That’s why until this day, even with the prohibition of the religion, the custom still continues. Not only because of the expensive custom but also, this ceremony strengthen solidarity between the family members. In the old days, one funeral might be postponed for weeks, months and even years. This happened because of so many family members were expat in other countries and places, and they would be waiting for them to come back home to joined in the ceremony. While their waiting, the deceased’s coffin is kept below the tongkonan with all the deceased clothes and belongings. Sometimes they also sleep beside the coffin and this happened to me. It’s a bit creepy though knowing next to you is a dead person. But you just need to think positively and be brave to do that. hahaha.
I was in Toraja for 3 days straight and here is some pictures while I was in the ceremony. Apologize for not being detailed in my story cause’ I’m still new to the writing stuff and I’m not good in elaborating my story. I’ll add more to this post when I can already figure out what I want to write.
