If they were a high-status South Sulawesi Torajan, we should probably put it in a cave grave. We'll have to hollow out a sizeable square section cavity in the appropriate cliff face for it and its coffin.
Then we'll have to have a tau tau made from wood or bamboo. This is a lifelike effigy of the deceased, and it goes into the cliff too.
Sometimes dead Torajans are put in cave graves, maybe suspended on wooden platforms up high in the cave. The platform can rot and collapse. In the cave I was taken to, this had happened. The random jumble of bones had had to be rearranged, unidentified.
Often, you see the offerings left by relatives. Things to eat, drink, and smoke. It's important to keep the spirits happy and comfortable.
In one particular village, they were in the habit of putting deceased babies into hollowed-out cavities in jackfruit trees, which are considered to be their 'new mothers'.
No comments:
Post a Comment