“It may sound strange to some, but it is part of our culture and uniqueness,” the Torajan people say, following their interesting rituals. defines as.
Also known as the “Land of the Dead”, the people living in this place live with the dead for weeks, months, and sometimes years, after performing musical funerals.
They continue to give water, food and cigarettes to dead bodies.
When a family member dies, they act by thinking that he is not actually dead. They think of them as sick rather than calling them dead, they say.
Based on this thought; They provide food, drink, and even offer cigarettes to mummified corpses.
At night they pray with the dead.
At the same time, the Torajans, who believe in God, think that they are asleep and leave the lights on in the chambers of the dead for them at night.
They perform prayer rituals for the soul of the dead body with which they live together at home. Moreover, sometimes they do these prayers with the dead.
Members of the upper class live with the dead for up to several years.
According to cultural expert Yacob Kakke, people who are not in good financial condition usually hide the dead for only a few weeks and then arrange a funeral.
The so-called middle class can keep them for several months. Members of the upper class, on the other hand, live with the dead, keeping them with them for up to a few years.
They see cattle as a vehicle that carries people to the other world.
When it’s time for the funeral, all relatives gather to commemorate the deceased’s transition from life to death. Thinking that cattle are a means of passage to the other world, they sacrifice a cattle in the ceremony.
The Torajans place great emphasis on the ritual of sacrifice, as they believe that if a cattle is not sacrificed when one dies, the passage to the other world will not be swift.
The rituals do not end here either, the deceased is exhumed every year!
The relatives of the deceased go to their graves once a year and perform the second burial ceremony, which they call “ma’nene”. In this ceremony, the dead body, whose physical form has changed, is exhumed. Their rotten clothes are removed, they are dressed in new ones, they are decorated with accessories and they pray for him and take pictures with the corpse.
These rituals, which seem interesting to all of us, are a part of their lives for them. From a very young age, the Torajans learn to deal with death and see it as part of their journey.
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