#torajans

[globalchristendom]

A Torajan mummy unearthed for the pre-Christian Ma’Nene festival in the Tana Toraja region of Indonesia. (Credit: Paul Koudounaris)

[globalchristendom]

A tongkonan (family/ancestral home) next to a church in the Tana Toraja region of Indonesia. The differences in architecture speak of the Torajan people’s old and new cultural practices coexisting side by side. (Photographer: Lies Ouwerkerk)

[globalchristendom]

A mausoleum in Tikala village, Tana Toraja regency, South Sulawesi province, Indonesia. The photographer explains its cultural significance thus:

Christian and animist traditional elements mix freely here; the site is an exemplar of the modern Torajan cultural synthesis. The Christian mausoleum, with its modern hyper-realistic effigy, is associated with a traditional standing monolith, photo right, and a traditional boat-shaped bier, photo left. In Torajan funerals, the wooden bier, upon which the corpse is carried to its final resting place, is kept at that place of final interment until it eventually disintegrates to become one with the elements.

(Photographer: Michael Gunther)

[globalchristendom]

The Toraja people of Indonesia are a largely Christian/animist people. Pre-Christian death rituals are very prominent in Toraja culture.

Above: Young Toraja people dressed in traditional attire during a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the gospel reaching the Toraja people ("100 tahun injil masuk toraja"). (Photographer: Tennyson Lee)

Below: Toraja dress their dead loved ones in new clothes and parade them around during the Ma'Nene ritual. (Photographer: Elang Herdian - Associated Press)