Burying the dead in Toraja, Indonesia

The people in the remote Toraja region on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi are predominantly Christians, but they are sticking to the old animistic traditions of their ancestors. This also includes the fact that death does not mean the end of a human being. By Darren Whiteside

  • Tana Toraja resident at a rock-hewn tomb (photo: Darren Whiteside/Reuters)
    The ancient Torajan burial ritual is also known as "Ma'nene", in which clans visit the tombs of deceased family members, clean their remains and replenish the coffins with personal belongings
  • Tana Toraja residents (photo: Darren Whiteside/Reuters)
    The boulders can be as high as a three-storey building and each tomb can take between three to six months to carve
  • View of the tomb landscape of Toraja (photo: Darren Whiteside/Reuters)
    View of the tomb landscape of Toraja: animistic beliefs are widely practiced in Indonesia - with a population of 250 million, the country is predominantly Muslim, yet is also home to minority groups which espouse Hinduism, Buddhism and traditional beliefs
  • Transporting a corpse for burial in a Torajan tomb (photo: Darren Whiteside/Reuters)
    The deceased are mummified and housed in ornate, colorful coffins and spend several months or even years in their own homes before receiving a funeral and burial. Relatives talk to the deceased, offer them food and drink and involve them in family gatherings, as if they are still alive
  • Funeral in Toraja (photo: Darren Whiteside/Reuters)
    Once sufficient family members can attend and money is available to pay for sacrificial buffaloes and pigs, a funeral ceremony, known as 'Rambu Solo', is held, with the whole village usually invited to a feast celebrating communal ties
  • Funeral procession in Toraja (photo: Darren Whiteside/Reuters)
    Family members shed tears for their dead as the coffin is carried in a chaotic funeral procession to the burial site
  • Torajan residents mourn their dead relatives (photo: Darren Whiteside/Reuters)
    Mourning the dead: the coffins - painted in bright reds and ochres - are stuffed with clothes and personal effects and placed in narrow tombs carved into monolithic rocks that pepper the mountainous region
  • The twenty-one year-old mining engineer in front of the tomb of his deceased great-grandmother in Toraja (photo: Darren Whiteside/Reuters)
    Keeping the tradition alive for future generations: Renolt Patrian, a 21-year-old studying to be a mining engineer sees this as an important responsibility. "When I have a job and earn money, I will not give up the tradition," he said after visiting his great-grandmother who died last month in the family home
  • Mummified remains of a man revealed during the opening of a coffin by relatives at Loko'mata, an ancient Torajan burial site, during the Ma'nene death ritual near Rantepao (North Toraja) on Sulawesi (photo: Darren Whiteside/Reuters)
    Mummified remains of a man revealed during the opening of a coffin by relatives at Loko'mata, an ancient Torajan burial site, during the Ma'nene death ritual near Rantepao (North Toraja) on Sulawesi