IS DEATH THE CENTRAL MOMENT OF LIFE ?

In Indonesia, at Tana Toraja, it would seem that a person's lifetime is spent as a task to pursue in preparing for death. As a matter of fact the people's family and social life in Tana Toraja revolves around a series of preparatory acts to the funeral ceremony which represents the most important event of a person's lifetime.

The people of Toraja's science of the universe is based on beliefs handed down from generation to generation and constitute the principal basis of the Aluk Todolo religion, or "ritual of the ancestors", which exerts a strong influence on their traditions. There is a Supreme Being, Pong Matua, who rules together with other gods, and in life in the hereafter, the souls of the ancestors control and oversee the life of their descendants; from this belief it ensues that the obligation with which the people venerate and honour the burial of the dead is binding.

Human existence, in fact, is conceived as a cycle made up by visible and invisible parts. Life on earth is perceived as living in a world full of light; death as the world of darkness, with a setting of a "house without smoke", in which the deceased continues his previous life with his personal belongings, ornaments and work-tools. His spirit -which was loaned to his body in life-continues to live and will join his ancestors after death, by going to the "puya", "the abode of souls". Life on earth is thus considered a golden bridge, a pinnacle to the hereafter and death a return to one's place of origin.

Wealth is considered a sign of having lived a good life, having respected the laws and having cared for one's ancestors. The inhabitants of Tana Toraja have been isolated for centuries in their magnificent valleys but the gradual penetration of the outer world from the beginning of this century, by Dutch missionaries and Islamic preachers, have caused somehow the adapting of customs and traditions to the new religions.

The funeral rite consists of a grand and elaborate festivity, the display of which is proportionate to the status of the deceased, and where colourful ceremonies give the deceased an appropriate and worthy passage to the hereafter, allowing him to keep the status and rank he had in life.

Only at the end of the funeral will the deceased be considered as dead, while before that he is considered as being only ill and taken care of at home.

The rites and ceremonies though adapted to Chris­tianity or Islam, have still kept their original and an­cestral spell, the funeral ceremonies lasting for days, weeks or months and requiring years of work, especially if the deceased belonged to "tang bulaan", the highest rank of the nobility.

The festivity is divided into different stages and is coordinated by funeral stewards called "tobabalu", and the centre of the village, which is surrounded by two rows of parallel houses, is adorned with coloured drapes, in gold and purple while the body of the deceased lying in a wooden coffin is in turn encased in a large and sumptuous sarcophagus in the form of a cylinder decorated with red and gold, and placed under a roof-shelter that repeats the style of the Toraja house, with the tau-tau -a small statue in wood representing the profile of the deceased -next to it.

The most dramatic part of the festivity is the slaughtering of the animals: a required sacrificial rite: buffaloes and swine are struck at the throat with a single sharp and cutting blow; the animal is then sorted and distributed to those present. Tens of buffaloes and swine are sacrificed and Government measures have been enacted to limit the massacre but the law is not easy to enforce, considering the strong beliefs held by the people for their funeral obligations. A series of symbolic deeds follow, funeral dirges are sung by groups of men placed in a circle formation, who dance and move around with gestures that have been handed down from father to son, while groups of boys satisfy their whims in a series of contests and wagers, others play cards and smoke.

After completing the rites, the deceased is con­sidered truly dead and may now reach the "abode of the souls" and his coffin is then carried amid entertain­ment and jubilation, to the mountains where the burial place has been dug out in the rocks. The journey is not an easy one, footpaths have to be climbed and the sarcophagus has to be drawn up with ropes, to ascend the steep ground and clamber over crevices.

The tau-tau is also carried up together with the coffin and upon reaching destination it will be fitted out with clothes that are to be worn for always.

The coffin is then placed in the rock and closed with a wooden door. The higher the rank of the family, the higher the hollow where the body will be put to rest.

From balconies dug in rocks of limestone, the tau-tau lean out; these mysterious manikins made of wood, wear clothes similar to those worn in life by the deceased and vaguely recall certain statues of the Crib of Southern Italy in the eighteen-century, with the difference that the tau-tau are static, solemn and detached.

The small statues one next to the other, represent a person's age sex, facial expression and are there to protect the tombs and to receive the spirit when it returns to rest; and the ver^y natural surroundings favour the Aluk tendencies, with these rocks wrapped in green, rising like natural skyscrapers towering over aggressive and frank.

The Bugis can boast of Kingdoms and Sultanates which influence extended to Kalimantan, the islands of the Lesser Sunda, to Central Moluccas, the archipelago of Riau and Temasik, now Singapore.

The peninsula which extends towards North, im­mersed in the waters of the Moluccas Sea, houses one of the most imposing sceneries in Indonesia: volcanoes both active and dormant, mountains covered with green, splendid coral gardens, valleys full of palmtrees, beautiful nutmeg and clove trees.

The people of this region is distinguished by four ethnic groups, each with its own language and culture: the Minahasa, the Gorontalo, the Sangihe and the Mongondow.

One of the populations is of Mongol origin and has a clear complexion which it assimilated in the course of centuries of migrations, coming from China and from Europe. With the arrival of the Portuguese, in the 16th. century, the people of Minahasa were receptive of the culture and influence of the Europeans and the greater part of the population converted to Christianity.

Yet, notwithstanding the spreading of the great religions, animistic rites still persist and influence the life of the people. Among the beliefs and traditions prevailing in popular culture, are faith in supernatural powers, devotion to mythological and heroic figures, belief in different gods and in the presence of spirits.

Superstitions are also widespread as well as the cult of ancestors and the custom of making offerings to the spirits.

Animistic ceremonies are still part of the cultural heritage of the people of the North and are being re­enacted during ceremonies celebrating rites in the rural areas, religious feasts linked to events that mark sowing thanks giving for the harvest or village festivals.