Ghosts of Sulawesi (part 2)

The island of Sulawesi, the orchid-shaped island, is home to an ethnic group that has managed to remain oblivious to all the settlements, are the Toraja, members of a partnership holding their ancestral beliefs and customs.

In this fiercely hierarchical community's own religious beliefs, the Aluk To Dolo, have their maximum expression in the funeral rites. In the course of this chapter we will develop one of these ceremonies in honor of an important member of the community Toraja.

The deceased's body has been kept for three months immersed in a fluid stops decomposition, awaiting the moment that it may be the three-day long celebration bouncing this member of the upper classes. During the funeral will surprise the festive atmosphere surrounding the ceremony around which to develop leisure activities such as buffalo fights and is offered to the family of the deceased pigs as gifts.

We will witness the rivalry that exists between families carrying the coffin and the bloody sacrifices in which they kill large numbers of buffalo in the hope that the soul of these accompany the deceased to the afterlife and may well retain their privileges. On the third day, when they lack the power of families and sadness somehow needs to be released, a fun battle erupts water and mud among participants who demonstrates the amazing talent of the Toraja.