Death in Toraja

Indonesia, 2015

In 2015 my siblings and I took a flight from Jakarta, then an overnight bus, and finally a very long car ride into the hills of South Sulawesi to experience a culture I’d first heard about as an anthropology student two decades earlier.  Characteristic elements of Torajan culture include the iconic saddle-back houses and the open-air burial caves where offerings like cigarettes and alcohol are laid out for mummies.  But most people come for the funerals.
You must bring a gift to a Torajan funeral.  At the entrance is a hut manned by an official with a notebook.  “Foreigners--two cartons clove cigarettes,” he writes down as we arrive.  “Family X—one pig, medium sized,” he has noted for those just before us.  This notebook informs the family of the deceased of their obligations at future funerals.  Reciprocity is key.
Sacrificial animals are very expensive, especially bulls.  Since that day's deceased was not a high-ranking person, there was only one bull sacrificed.  Most families brought pigs.  These were carried in trussed up and laid out in the sun.  Some were covered with palm leaves before being taken to the back to be butchered behind bamboo.  In contrast, the bull was sacrificed in full view of all.  My brother watched, and I photographed, as the animal was lead out and tied to a post.  Its throat was cut in a microsecond and its carcass butchered on the dirt where it bled out and fell.  My sister chose not to watch.  When people left, they were given cardboard boxes with pieces of bull.