Time with the Toraja

Paul and I spent the better part of last week with the Toraja tribe in Sulawesi.  It was definitely an interesting encounter that left both or us doing some processing.  The Torajans believe the funeral is the most important ceremony a person has and go to great lengths to plan four-day funerals that hundreds of people attend.  It can take years to get up the money and make the preparations and during that time, the dead person stays at home in a big box with all of their things (clothes,tools,etc.).  At the time of the funeral, the box is moved to a cave or hung on the side of a cliff or put in a special house.   Lots of Buffalo and pigs are slaughtered to go with the dead person.  These are eaten by the family who come to the funeral for the most part.   Once the box is moved to its final spot, it begins to rot in the tropical climate exposing the dead person .  We were able to attend a funeral and a couple grave sites.  Paul will describe what we saw.

Really we saw two separate things.   The first was The funeral of police major Raham Kumbong and the second was a Torajan cemetery.  Police major Kumbong's funeral was billed as a proper Christian affair and day one  started as such.  What happened after the hymns stopped and the coffin was hoisted on to the elevated platform above the bull fighting area was enough to send even the most devout Christian  onto the margins of the festival grounds.  Without even a change in rhythm the program switched from amazing grace and how great art thou to an animistic shaman shouting verses of ancient language.  All of his  couplets started with a scream that approximated the noise Aurthur Fonzarelli would make after slamming his hand in a car door. "And then it came to pass" translates as "ayaaaaayh" screamed in ancient Torajan.

After thirty minutes of the man screaming at the start of every other sentence,  he finally stopped.  Some of the other men started carrying bamboo stick tied squealing hogs on to the festival grounds while the family and friends of the deceased, in their nicest Sunday go to meeting clothes, promonaded across those same grounds and into the family sitting area.  Around 25 hogs were assembled by the time the final mourner reached the seating area to take tea and cake while the names of those who had donated each hog was read. 

After the donor's name was announced, his initials were spray painted onto the hog and it was carried to a different area between the coffin platform and the family area.  In short order several groups of men had all 25 hogs killed and butchered right there on the ground.  Eight hogs at a time were stabbed thru the heart, bleed into a bamboo tube, de-haired by blow torch(Unlike the market pigs), gutted, and dismembered while Major Kumbong's kith and kin chatted over an afternoon  snack.

After the hog slaughter, everyone made a big circle and the bull fighting began.  Indonesian bull fights are just that, bull on bull til one turns tail and runs.  Jen and I stuck toward the back because there were no barriers between the people and the bulls.  Even with with this modicum of caution, we got close enough to one of the winners to get an autograph.  We were never in danger of joining police major Kumbong and his 25 hogs in the afterlife, but I am glad we were not any closer to that bull either.  I have had pork and I have  seen card playing and gambling at a number of Christian funerals.  Betting on bull fights and hog slaughter at one was new to me.  We did not come back for days two thru four, but I will never forget day one of police major Raham Kumbong's final going away party.

Torajan cemetaries are truly creepy places.  They are located on cliffsides and it is all the better if the cliff has a cave in it.  Some folks carve their own family tunnels into the cliffs that don't have caves and other  families construct hanging wooden burial arks to hang from the cliff face.  At each burial site there is also a spot where people whose families have managed to slaughter 24 bulls at their relative's funeral can place a life size effigy of them.

If a family has a tunnel, the whole burial thing is like a moseleum and not that weird other than the open door, communal burials, and exposed bones.  The hanging graves are more creepy because they also have many generations of dead guys in each one and they lose structural integrity as years pass.  Piles of bones and an errant skull or two beneath the older ones does  not seem to cause any concern for the living.  We were at a site during a hard rain and really had to give the hanging graves a wide birth.  Getting dripped on with dead guy water is one of the grossest things I can imagine.

That is except for a cave full of coffins and bones that gets played off as a tourist attraction.   The cave burial site we visited was a natural limestone cave chock full of bones coffins and offerings.  A guide leads you via the light a Coleman lantern into the cave.  Here and there you notice groups of skulls on the natural ledges of the first few chambers, but it is not until you get a hundred yards or So back into the cave when the piles of coffins and bones really start dominating the scene.  Newer coffins are just haphazardly piled onto older ones and the bones of those whose coffins have desintegrated.   Floor to ceiling disorganized piles of  bones and boxes.  The latest date i saw on a coffin was a fifty four year old who died in 2010. We cut the cave tour a little short, but on the way out I did stop to get a photo of me with my face behind three skulls that were strategicly placed for tourists to get the requsite shot of a visit to the cave.  Like getting a photo of me and Mickey at Disneyland, it seemed like I kinda had to.  Our guide mentioned that the Torajans started using formaldehyde just 30 years ago.  I bet that is going to change things.

Lastly,  I have to mention the baby trees.  If a Torajan child dies before cutting teeth,  the body is placed in a special bag and nailed to a tree in his or her village that is designated for baby burial purposes.  The tree has sap that is used to make baby food and the bark of the tree eventually grows over the bag and envelops the baby.  The baby bag is nailed to the tree facing his or her house.  The tree we visited had around eight or nine bags hanging on it.

Weird Wildlife

Last week we got a chance to see some unusual wildlife.  We did some truly amazing snorkelling on a fringing reef.  It seemed like we were in a Discovery Channel special.  The coral and fish were beautiful and we saw a large lionfish and purple spotted ray.  From there we went to a wildlife refuge where we saw the critically endangered black masque, cuscus, and tarsier.  Cuscus are whitish raccoon-sized marsupials with long tails that live in trees.  Tarsiers are tiny hand-sized nocturnal primates.  Paul is convinced they were the inspiration for the Ewoks.  Both were adorable.  / Jen

Rounding Third...

Jen and I are in Indonesia and we just realized today that we are going to have to cut some stops from the itinerary in order to be back to Jakarta in time to catch our June 13th flight.  Wow, we can not believe that the time has gone so quickly.  We will be in Bali for a short time next week, it will probably then take a week to go see the Komodo Dragons, and then a week to travel across Java and see a few things on the way.

No matter how much time you have, you always seem to run short.  It is sad to see some of your preferred destinations slip away.  Travel here is a lot slower than we expected it to be.  It is supposed to take 38-44 hours to get to the stepping off point for Komodo from Bali.  Of course, any sane person is going to want to get off the bus once or twice in 44 hours to stretch their legs a little.  Breaking the trip for a comfortable overnight adds a day on each side.  We may fly.

With 27 days to go, spending 4 of them on a bus just does not seem like our best use of time.



        

The other white meat.

DOG AND CAT LOVERS MAY WISH TO SKIP THIS POST.

CERTAINLY DO NOT LOOK AT THE PICTURES.

OK, if you are still reading it does not mean that you hate dogs.  You might love them in the same way that  the people of Tomohon Indonesia love them.   That way is on satay sticks grilled and marinaded in a sweet garlic and chili sauce.  It kind of ouks you out when you hear about people eating dogs.  Seeing how wholesale dog eating (many restaurants serve dog) is made possible really makes you think about  your carnivorous predilections in general.

People have dogs as pets here.   They come in all shapes and sizes.  "Market Dogs" are all short haired brown or bridle cocker spaniel sized canines.  They are thin and wear the fact that they are meat animals outwardly.  Pet dogs would watch people in a crowded market go by with acknowlegement or begging.  Market dogs shun contact with passersby for obvious reasons.  They are packed into crates at the same size to space ratio as market chickens.   They scatter like fish from a net when the door on top of their kennel is opened and they yelp growl and snap at the rope looped through a  hollow six foot pole that is used in all interaction they have ever had with the dog farmer.

They know when the end is upon them,  but it does not seem that this realization is any different than that of the chickens or pigs a few stalls down the way.

Once a dog is selected and hauled thru the top of the kennel by the rope around it's neck, the guy clubs the dog dead right in front of the customer, any passing folks in the crowded market, and all of the other dogs.  After the dog is dead, the guy guts the dog and uses a blow torch to singe off  all of the hair.  Burnt hair does not really stick out as a bad smell above the others in the meat section of third world markets.  For customers who are in a hurry or for those who want only a quarter or half a dog, there are several preprepared dogs to choose from.   The blow torch guy uses the fixture that he has connected to a propane tank by eight feet of hose to cook the dogs as well as dehair  them.  Dog turns white as it cooks and it takes the guy about half a cigarette to complete the process as he is standing there hawking freshly blowtorched dog.
They bring the pigs in on the backs of scooters already dead.  Their skin can be sold, so there is no blow torching, but they do get butchered in the market.
Fruit bats and rats are also blowtorched although the bat's wings are removed first for use in soup.  Cats are displayed with fur on as they are skinned after purchase.  Bon Appetit!

Droopy eared tribal members

We have found the source of inspiration for all kids who are driving tapered earings into their lobes. Dayak tribesmen are not making their earlobe holes big in an effort to stave off gainful employment until they can afford plastic surgery, but they are right there with your local skater kid when it comes to big earlobe holes.  It is not a fad for the Dayaks so much as it is  a dying tradition. Only the old folks are keeping it real.  In Borneo the kids must  think the elders are dorks for having big ear holes.  In Los Angeles,  it is the other way around.  Funny how the exact same practice can divide
generations backwards and forwards depending on where a person with big holes in their head happens to be standing.  Maybe that is what the kids here and there are thinking.  My guess is most just kind of dig the look and the attention that it generates from their parents.

Paul

Technical Difficulties

Sorry for the long silence.  We are adjusting to our new tablet and have had week internet connections in Borneo.  We're still not able to post pics.  Will try from the next city tomorrow.

Brunei

On our way up the Malaysian coast of Borneo we  overnighted in  Brunei which way different than we expected.  We were able to pick up a few treats we couldn't get in Malaysia like diet soda and  yogurt.   Brunei actually seemed a little more mellow of a Muslim country than Malaysia.  Also super clean.  The sultan has a three story museum dedicated just to him, and many of the other residents live in stilt houses over the river.  And of course the mosque is beautiful.   Check out the ladies wear at the mall.....

One of the craziest things in the sultan's museum  was the actual size solid gold arm, complete with open upturned hand,  that he can use to hold up his head when the golden crown gets too heavy.  Others must  suffer from heavy golden hat trouble too and it was worth the trip just to see how folks  deal with the problem.  Way Way Way  Better Homes and Gardens ought to publish a piece on that.

Still in Borneo

We've spent the last week Borneo trying to scare up some of it's famous wildlife.  We visited three national Parks in Malaysian Borneo and saw the proboscis monkeys I was looking for.  We saw only tracks of the saltwater crocodiles Paul was looking for, but that was close enough in my opinion.  We also toured a cave where bat guano is harvested along with the bird nests they use to make soup in Chinese restaurants.   We got up close to orangutans being re-intoduced to the forest in a rehabilitation park.  We've had some technical difficulties on the way which required us to upgrade our technology so that we can now publish camera photos.  Here are some favorites.  We're on a flight now to the Indonesian side of Borneo to take a public boat to the interior to see what can see there.