2007-09-04, Indonesia Funerary Finery 印度尼西亚的豪华葬礼（在线收听） |
| In the isolated Torajan valley, this is the season for death. Most funerals come after the rice harvest in late summer, early fall. For Torajans, funerals are their most important ceremony. After a person dies, months go by before the actual funeral. The extended family and villagers from around the valley come to show their respect. For an upper class family, hundreds pour in from the countryside. Each village brings gifts presented in long processions. Family members lead guests to the greeting tent. Chanting shows love for the dead. The Mabadong dance is a ritual bidding farewell to the deceased and can last for hours. The traditional Torajan house is built by hand, and it's the center of both family rite and the funeral rite. The culture blends Christianity with traditional beliefs. It's only when the first buffalo is sacrificed that the person is considered dead. The buffalo's soul carries the deceased to heaven, or Puya , a long journey past the southern horizon. All animals killed at the funeral accompany the dead to the hereafter. The departing soul needs them. The number of buffalos sacrificed also determines the family inheritance. The more people give to the ceremony, the more they inherit. The body of the deceased is taken from their home to the village of their birth by motorcade. At the end of the road, the coffin is carried to the village.Before the burial comes a feast and more animal sacrifices, there is a brief dance with the coffin to postpone the burial. Then the coffin, all 300 hand-carved pounds of it, is hauled into the rainforest, followed by the guests and sealed in a remote cave. With the ceremony over, Torajans return to their quiet routine of rice farming in a land where heaven is like earth and the dead confer good crops to the living. |
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