Rantepao, Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia, October 2010. A traditional Toraja funeral takes place in the village of Paparan. When a Torajan dies in Toraja land, family members of the deceased are required to hold a series of funeral ceremonies that usually last for several days before the deceased is brought to a funeral site for burial. The family of the deceased should provide tens of buffaloes and pigs for the ceremony.The busy scene begins when funeral visitors come and crowd the buffalo-slaughtering field. A group of funeral visitors and family members of the deceased chant a 'mournful tune' known locally as ma'badong, at packed site of the buffaloes' nemesis. The deceased is not buried immediately but stored in a traditional house - or Tongkonan, as locals call it - under the same roof with his or her kin. Torajans consider the person to be merely suffering from an illness and not truly dead until the moment his funeral when the first buffalo is sacrificed; then their spirit can begin its journey to the Land of Souls. The most exciting part of the ceremony is the buffalo fights and slaughter. Family members are required to slaughter buffaloes and pigs as they believe that the spirit of the deceased will live peacefully thereafter, continuing to herd the buffaloes that have come to join him or her. Photo by Frits Meyst/Adventure4ever.com
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