Temporary Burial

The Toraja are the ethnic group of South Sulawesi in Indonesia. They believe in welcoming the spirit of a dead person back to the village of his or her origin. As a belief, they dig up the graves of their deceased loved ones, wash them, and dress them up in fancy clothes; they also repair or fix broken and damaged coffins. They call the bizarre ritual as “Ma’nen”. Some families can’t afford an initial proper burial because it is costly. For them, a funeral is a great celebration of life like a party in which the entire family of the deceased and all residents of the village take part. As a result, they place the dead body in a temporary coffin. Funeral ceremonies are incredibly important to the Torajans and are often take long time to held after the death of a person until the family of the deceased raise enough money for burial ceremony. They place the corps in a temporary coffin when they are able to maintain the fund, they slaughter buffaloes and pigs. After the sacrifice, the meat is distributed among the participants of funeral ceremony. After the completion of ceremonies, the corpse is raised from the dead and walks to its new resting place.