SOUTH SULAWESI Tana Toraja
Tana Toraja is now the second most popular destination for tourists in Indonesia after Bali.
The population of the Toraja is approximately 650,000, of which 450,000 still live in the regency of Tana Toraja (“Land of Toraja”). Most are Christian, others are Muslim, and a minority still retain the local beliefs known as Aluk Todolo (“Way of the Ancestors”), which are most visible during funeral festivities and burial customs.
Tana Toraja or Toraja is one of the beautiful region at South Sulawesi Province. From the distance, one can see the jagged edges of the hill stretching side by side along the slop of the mountains. Moreover, one can be also find beautiful valleys in which bamboo and sugar palms are growing and the traditional houses with curved roof among the paddy field, beautiful and naturally carved and colored by the skill full people of Toraja. According to UNESCO, their heritage has an “indispensable scientific value as a source of analogy to study the past” and “the cultural landscape created based on local wisdoms may bring awareness on the nature-culture relation”.
The Toraja people live in the highlands of South Sulawesi. The word Toraja comes from the Buginese language's "to riaja", meaning "people of the uplands".
Most of the population is indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called Aluk ("the way"), Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to Aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja Gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); and other population is Christian, and others are Muslim.