RAMBU SOLO, THE WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE FUNERAL CEREMONY

Searching for an exceptionally unique culture you have never seen before? Then you should take time to visit Tana Toraja, located in South Sulawesi province in Indonesia, a piece of land inhabited by one of the Austronesian ethnic groups dominating the rest of the region. The name Toraja allegedly came from Riaja, “inhabitants of the mountains”, Riajang, “inhabitants of the West”, or Toraya, “great people”, according to different sources. The word Tana means “region” or “land”, thus the name Tana Toraja, “land of the Torajans”.

According to local old myths devolved from generation to generation, the first ancestor of the Torajans descended right from heaven using a ladder, which also functioned as communication media with Puang Matua, the “only God”. Despite the majority of Torajans today are either Catholic or Protestant adherents, they still cling to old traditions and rituals inherited from their ancestors, which are closely linked to cultivating and harvesting seasons.

The cultural uniqueness of the Torajans lies, for instance, in their tongkonan traditional house, and rambu tuka ritual carried out after renovation of the tongkonan house.  The tongkonan house is considered the “ancestral” house of the extended family to which it belongs, and the central point of Torajans’ social living. Thus any ritual in connection with the tongkonan is tremendously important, which the whole family is obliged to participate in, symbolizing their lasting relationship with the ancestors. But this is not all, yet.

The uniqueness is even more conspicuous in the Torajans’ funeral ceremony, called rambu solo. The Torajans believe that without this funeral ceremony, the spirit of the deceased person will bring bad luck to the living.  The rambu solo ceremony is extremely complicated and costly, taking months (sometimes, even years) to prepare. No surprise, since one single such ceremony can take up to 4-5 billion rupiahs (around $300,000 - $380,000)!

The deceased’s body is wrapped in cloth and kept in the tongkonan house, awaiting for the ceremony to be fully prepared. During this awaiting period, - now this is the fact you can hardly find elsewhere - the family typically treat the deceased as simply ill, still served with food, drinks, cigarettes, areca nuts, and other offerings, even talked and jested with as if with the living. The rambu solo serves as the “perfecting” ceremony, after which the deceased can be considered fully dead, “perfectly” dead. A bit creepy, you think? Well, apparently the Torajans don’t think so.

The name rambu solo itself literally means “the smoke (moving) down”, referring to offering rites (associated with ‘smoke’) to the deceased taking place after 12 p.m., when the sun begin to move ‘down’. Sometimes it is also called rampe matampu’, “rituals in the west”, due to the sun being in the west after 12 p.m., also referring to the fact that the rituals are carried out at the western side of the tongkonan house.

The rambu solo ceremony is intended to honor and to accompany the spirit of the deceased to his or her place of eternity with the ancestors. The Torajans believe that the higher the deceased’s corpse is placed the faster his or her spirit reach the heavens – which explains why Torajan graves are typically located in high, rocky hills’ caves. The rituals are categorized according to the deceased’s social status; the richer and the more highly respected he or she was, the bigger and the more costly the funeral ceremony is. Well, this one is common anywhere, right?

For deceased persons from aristocratic families, great numbers of buffaloes (usually 24 to 150) are slaughtered as offerings, whereas only about 8-10 buffaloes for middle class families, including the famously very expensive “blond” buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis), worth up to $3,500 each, for some even more than $40,000 each. This is one of the requirements such ceremony takes, in accordance with Torajans’ belief that buffaloes function as a ‘ride’ of the deceased’s spirit to arrive the puya, or “hereafter”. The more the buffaloes’ offerings, the faster the arrival.

The offering buffaloes are first paraded around the village, and then matched against one another at sundown, before being slaughtered. The peculiar of this buffaloes’ offering is the way of beheading each buffalo by one single machete chop-down. Can you imagine the extreme sharpness the machete takes and the necessary strength of the executioner to perform such act?

Various ornaments and decorations made of silver and gold, especially on the deceased’s coffin, are other requirements. In addition, “provisions” like clothing, jewelry and a sum of money are put into the coffin, not only for the deceased, but also as “consignment” for family members who were dead long ago. Finally, all villagers altogether will escort the deceased to his or her resting place, usually consisting of caves carved in rocky hills.

Habitually, the funeral ceremony has its peak events around July or August. This traditional ceremony usually attracts foreign tourists and native Torajans living in other regions alike to come attending it. No special invitation is made to attendees of this ceremony, as any native Torajans anywhere are welcomed to fully experience and internalize traditional values of their ancestors through the rituals. But, since this traditional funeral ceremony has been also a tourist attraction, surely you are also welcomed to attend if you happen to be visiting South Sulawesi in Indonesia. This without any doubt will be one of your once-in-a-lifetime experiences.