Indonesia’s Toraja of Sulawesi live to die
At Suaya cliff on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, life-size wooden dolls, representing dead Torajan royals entombed there, look down on family members who regularly deliver offerings such as cigarettes, palm wine and bottled water. (Paul Watson / Los Angeles Times)
Legend says the design of the Torajans’ boat-shaped homes, called tongkonan, came from heaven. The wood-framed buildings face north, toward the land of the creator. The dead are always placed in a room at the back so they can face south, where the ancestors live in heaven. (Paul Watson / Los Angeles Times)
Unlike farmers from other ethnic groups in southern Sulawesi, Torajans do not use water buffaloes as beasts of burden but instead pamper them and fatten them up for sacrifice at funerals. (Paul Watson / Los Angeles Times)
Pallbearers carry the coffin of Augustina Tambing, 68, the wife of a primary school principal. She died in January and was buried July 19 after a three-day funeral attended by more than 7,000 people in a southern Sulawesi village. (Paul Watson / Los Angeles Times)
Women greeting mourners at the funeral of Augustina Tambing wear traditional Torajan beaded shawls and belts. (Paul Watson / Los Angeles Times)
The funeral of Augustina Tambing brought thousands of relatives together over three days, including this girl, one of 20 grandchildren who helped greet mourners. (Paul Watson / Los Angeles Times)
A Torajan butcher wears a long knife on his belt in preparation for the slaughter of water buffaloes. (Paul Watson / Los Angeles Times)
More than 150 pigs were slaughtered and roasted at Augustina Tambing’s funeral, and the meat was distributed among the thousands of mourners. (Paul Watson / Los Angeles Times)
