Torajan Funeral (Part 2)
The next day of the funeral was for welcoming the guests. There were no animal sacrifices planned, so Anne felt safe to attend. On our way to the funeral, we stopped at the weekly livestock market. The many buffalo and pigs on sale were to satisfy the high demand for sacrificial animals. Hundreds of squealing pigs, tied to bamboo frames, were laid out in rows for inspection under a large tent. We chatted with the sellers, asking how much such-and-such a pig was worth. Potential buyers poked and prodded the animals, turning and shifting them on their poles for inspection. We picked up a 5-liter jerrycan of “balok”, or fermented palm wine, to bring to the funeral that day. To our dismay we found that we had the wrong kind: our hosts wanted “bitter” balok, flavored with tree bark, and not the sweet kind that we had brought. Still, it didn't last long: some of our hosts had a sweet tooth. We brought “sirih” (betel nut) for our guide's grandmother, a wonderful old lady with wrinkled skin and long white hair who, despite her advanced age, was still very active. She constantly drank balok, joked, chatted with her friends and toured the funeral grounds visiting relatives. Unfortunately she could not speak Indonesian.
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This funeral was so big that welcoming all of the guests required two days. Each set of invitees, grouped by clan, would line up outside the arena, then be led in by the whooping dancers to the sound of beating drums. After parading around the grounds, the line of guests would file into the sitting area below the coffin. Relatives of the deceased, dressed in their finest traditional outfits, would welcome the guests. The women, their hair tied into buns, wore flowing gowns decorated with strings of brightly colored beads. They carried a “kris”, an Indonesian dagger, tucked into their belts. The guests, once seated, would be served tea or coffee and offered cigarettes while the name and title of each one would be read by the MC over the microphone, so that the deceased could hear what important people were attending his funeral! Since our guide was a member of an invited clan, we were allowed to accompany him to the sitting area like an honored guest.
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While the guests were being welcomed, their gifts were put on display. The funeral ground was filled with buffalo squealing pigs. The pigs, tied to bamboo poles, were lined up and stacked along the sides of the arena. The fatter ones required four or sometimes six bearers to carry them. Behind each corner of the rectangular arena was a slaughterhouse where the pigs were butchered. A long knife would be casually plunged into the heart of a pig, squealing as the blood spurted out. Sometimes the entire animal, still half alive, would be thrown onto the open fire to roast. The freshly cut pork was packed into bamboo tubes and placed over the fire to roast. When this Torajan specialty, called “pa'piong”, is finished cooking, the tube is popped open and the juicy meat spills out. It was delicious! The only drawback was that the entire pig would end up inside the tube: heart, liver, inner organs and all. When we popped open the tube and poured in onto our plates, we never knew what we might get!
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After two days of welcoming guests, the major sacrifice was next. It was delayed for some reason and we did not know for sure when it would take place. We decided that seeing the sacrifice of over 100 fine water buffalo did not interest us, and as there was little additional ceremony associated with the slaughter we decided to skip it. The financial burden of the whole funeral business is astounding. An amazing amount of money is spent on these funerals, not only for the hosts, who must build the arena and organize the festivities, but by the guests, who are expected to bring pigs, buffalo and other animals as gifts.
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Prev: Torajan Funeral (Part 1)