Honoring the Dead: The Unique Burial Practices of the Tana Torajan of Indonesia

Figure 1: Burial of a deceased individual in a rock cave (Source: Alamy)

 

Death is an inevitable fact of existence. As such cultural groups around the world have developed a series of rituals, beliefs, and values concerning death and the dead.  This results in a variety of different ways of viewing, understanding, and interacting with death and the dead.  Today’s blog post will address the unique burial practices of the Tana Torajan of Indonesia, who practice death rituals that are quite different from Western cultural groups practice.

 

The Tana Torajan cultural group live in the highlands of one of the Indonesia Islands.  Traditionally animists the Tana Torajan were introduced to Christianity in the early 1900s durng Dutch colonialism of Indonesia.  Today many Tana Torajan identify as Christians, and they interweave those beliefs into their native cultural traditions.  It is believed that the late contact with the Western world is in part why the Tana Torajan maintain several of their traditional ways of life, despite the changes to them as a result of that contact.

 

The Tana Torajan do not fear death.  They accept it as part of what happens to everyone.  Death is not the end but another phase of existence, one that the living must help the deceased with since the deceased have minimal control over their afterlives.  The afterlife is called the Puya, and the quality of one’s afterlife is dependent on how the living treat them in and after death.  This means the living family members and close loved ones of the deceased have a great responsibility to them.

 

Figure 2: Tau tau figurines (Source: Alamy)

  

Funerary rituals among the Tana Torajan, known as Rambu Solo, are very complex.  They are completed over several days (between five and 30 days) and require a number of rituals, feasts, celebrations, and animal sacrifices.  The costs can reach the hundreds of thousands of dollars as the living must provide the most extravagant send off to ensure a quality afterlife for the deceased.  The Rambu Solo also serves the dual purpose of acting as a family reunion as members of the family, near and far, come together to celebrate the deceased.  This is also an opportunity to pass on family stories and information, share in inheritance, embrace the arts, and more. 

 

Due to the costs of the Rambu Solo not all individuals can provide an immediate funeral for their deceased loved ones.  If and when this occurs the dead are left in the custody of the living, and the dead are treated like a living but very sick family member.  The living have no qualms over the dead or the decomposition process that takes place, of which they are very aware of.  To avoid some of the more unsavory aspects of these natural processes the bodies are often artificially mummified. 

 

After the Rambu Solo funerary rituals are complete the body is laid to rest in either a rock cave in the mountains or a crypt (Figure 1).  If a cave is used there are tau tau statues left outside of the cave to demarcate the location as a burial cave.  Tau tau statues are caved jackfruit wood statues that represent human figures (Figure 2).

 

Figure 3: Ma'nene Ritual involving family sharing information with the deceased (Source: Alamy)

 

Every three years after the interment of the deceased the Ma’nene ceremony takes place (Figure 3).  This a three day ritual that occurs every August starts with days of prayer by the family.  On the third day the deceased is disinterred.  The body is washed, dressed in new clothing and wrapped in a fresh cloth, the crypt or cave cleaned, and offerings of food, beverages, and luxuries (e.g., cigarettes and candies) are provided to the deceased.  Living relatives and loved ones also share information with the deceased, celebrating the life that once was.  The purpose of this ritual is to remember the dead, as well as provide children born after the death of the deceased the opportunity to meet and learn about their dead relative.

 

These rituals are incredibly important, and failure to complete them leads to catastrophic consequences.  It is believed that the restless dead will cause harm to the living, including but not limited to failed harvests.  This ensures the living continue taking care of the dead, even if they may not want to.  As these rituals serve as a means of sharing family information, wealth, and culture they help preserve the Tana Torajan way of life.  Additionally, they reaffirm family ties, particularly with geographically distant family members.

 

Works Cited

Putra, Ahmad Suthami, et al. "Ma'nene' Ritual" Ethnographic Study of Ma'nene' Ritual Practices in Toraja." Journal of Advanced Zoology (2023): 404-408. Print.

St. Jean, Julie. "The Ma'nene Ceremony." Heritage Daily 12 August 2023. Electronic.

Tahir, M. Dalyan, Hunaeni Hunaeni and Sylver Tri Poetra. "Learning Local Wisdom through the Symbols of Ma’nene’ Rituals in North Toraja: A Semiotic Perspective." The Journal of Ultimate Research and Trends in Education (2020): 108-120. Print.

Children of the Night: "Vampire" Children in 17th Century Poland

Figure 1: Padlock found with the "vampire" child burial in Poland

 

Beginning in the 1400s but peaked in the 1500 and 1600s were the European Witch and Werewolf Trials.  Based on historical and bioarchaeological investigations we now know that individuals who were extremely sick, who were social outcasts, social isolates, and anyone who did not conform to the rules of the Church were targeted.  During this period it was common belief that dead werewolves resurrected into vampires.  This idea really took hold in Eastern Europe, leading to an abundance of “vampire burials” throughout this region.  Today’s blog post will address one specific example: the burial of at least one child (although up to three additional children) who were treated as vampires in death.

 

The discovery of the child vampire burial occurred outside of Pnie, a village located in northern Poland.  The 17^th century (1600s) burial was discovered by archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology at Nicolaus Copernicus University (NCU), who had a couple of years previously discovered another vampire burial (of an adult) interred near this 5- to 7-year-old child.  This child’s remains were found buried face down and included a lower leg bone with a triangular padlock attached to it (Figure 1).  The combination of the face down burial and padlock suggest that the living individuals responsible who burying the child believed them to be a vampire.  It was commonplace to bury “vampires” face down so upon resurrection they could not dig their way out of the burial to attack the living.  The padlocked leg also locked the deceased into their burial, further preventing attacks on the living if vampiric resurrection occurred. 

 

An additional three children were also discovered during this excavation. These children were buried in a pit adjacent to the “vampire” child’s burial.  One of the children’s jaws had evidence of copper staining, which has been interpreted as the presence of a copper coin in their mouth.  There is no evidence that these children were also interpreted as vampires, although some have inferred that they may been considered that based on their proximity to the child and adult “vampires” in the cemetery. 

 

Collectively, the burials at this location are of individuals who could not afford to be buried in the formal cemetery, but this was designated location for any individuals viewed as outcasts or deviants in life.  This means this cemetery may be a fertile area for additional “vampire” or deviant burials (be it werewolves, witches, or other “monsters”).  Excavations at the site are ongoing, so additional discoveries may be announced.

 

Bibliography

Metcalfe, T. (2023, August 11). 400-year-old 'vampire child' found buried with its foot padlocked to stop it rising from the grave. LiveScience.

Milligan, M. (2023, August 7). Child Found Buried Face Down with "Anti-Vampire" Triangular Padlock. Heritage Daily.

World of Archaeology. (2023, August 21). Unearthed: Historical Child Burial with Unique Triangular Padlock . Retrieved from World of Archaeology: https://www.worldofarchaeology.com/unearthed-historical-child-burial-with-unique-triangular-padlock/

 

  

Historical Linguistics: Cannibalism

Christopher Columbus's first meeting with Caribbean Indigenous populations (Source: National Institute of Health)

Cannibalism.  A stomach twisting phrase that refers to the consumption of the flesh and body parts of individuals within one’s own species.  By and large, cannibalism is a universal taboo.  Most societies and cultures agree that eating other humans is an aberration.  As previously discussed on this blog there has been a long history of cannibalism within human societies, starting among our hominid ancestors (e.g., Paranthropus boisei and Homo antecessor) and being commonplace among early human groups (e.g., Paleolithic cultures) and contemporary cultures (e.g., the Fore).  Despite this long history of the act the term cannibalism is relatively new, which is the purpose of this blog post.

 

The original term for the consumption of members of one’s own species was anthrophagy, a Greek term that is a bit of a mouthful and a lot to chew on if you think about it.  This term was used academically, medically, and professionally for centuries but never really caught on in popular language.  A new term, cannibalism, did and has been used since the 1490s.  Cannibalism was coined by Christopher Columbus after Columbus and his crew shipwrecked on the shores of a Caribbean Island inhabited by various Indigenous populations, including the Taino (commonly known as the Arawak, another Columbus term). Columbus reported this particular Indigenous population told him about the other Indigenous populations on the island, who they referred to as Caribs or Canibs. The Caribs/Canibs were characterized as man eaters, meaning they were individuals who literally ate their enemies (the Tainos), and it was in this storytelling that Columbus ultimately became inspired and created the term cannibal.

 

Now, it is important to state that Columbus and the Taino Indians had no translators, so there was more than likely some misunderstandings by Columbus and his crew of what was actually communicated to them by the Tainos.  Today linguists and historical scholars claim that there may not have been any literal consumption of human flesh.  Instead the Tainos may have been explaining the capture of fellows Tainos who were never returned to their home group (as is often the case with prisoners of war throughout history).  It is believed Columbus exaggerated the ferocity of the Caribbean Indigenous populations to justify his mistakes (in not locating a new route to Asia) and subsequent actions (the mass genocide of Amerindians throughout the Caribbean as he searched for nonexistent gold).  This is supported by the actions of Queen Isabella of Spain, who was funding Columbus’s voyages and campaigns.  In her correspondence with Columbus and her crew she said that any Indigenous populations who did not eat other humans should be left free and not be enslaved, but those who cannibals, as Columbus stated, should be enslaved because they were nothing more than animals that needed to be controlled.  Conveniently for Columbus, his crew, and the Spanish monarchy, every Indigenous individual on the island was considered a cannibal at some point and thereby enslaved, justifying the enslavement and cruel treatment of the Caribbean Indigenous populations.  It also led the popular use of the term cannibalism and its continued use against groups of people viewed as “the other” or deviant outsiders by those in power.

 

References

Lukaschek, K. (2000/2001). The History of Cannibalism. Cambridge: University of Cambridge.

Schutt, B. (2017). Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books.