Toraja Culture

An amateur anthropologist's report

My disclaimer: I am not an anthropologist! But these are a few of my observations of the Toraja people who live in the highlands of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. You can find more details about Toraja in travel guides to Indonesia.

Copyright L. Shuttleworth

Food

Rice is the staple. It is eaten at every meal. If there is enough money to buy vegetables in the market, or if the family is growing them at home, they are eaten on the side with the rice. Chickens are occasionally killed and eaten. After funeral or other ceremonies, there is usually pork or buffalo meat. Everyone seems to have some type of fruit trees, including mango, papaya, pineapple, bananas.
Traditional cuisine is the bamboo food: pork, chicken, or fish cooked for about an hour in a bamboo tube over an open fire outside. Chicken bamboo is made of sliced bamboo, chicken pieces, ginger, onion, garlic, and ground coconut. Pork and fish bamboo is made of the meat, green vegetables, and onion and garlic.
Vegetables are always peeled and cooked before they are eaten. No-one eats salads.
Food is usually left to cool off before it is eaten, and then it is eaten with the hands.
Sweet treats are made with rice, mung beans, and palm sugar.
Before rice, people ate manioc as the staple. Traditionally, there were only two meals - one at about 11 a.m., and one at about 6:30/7 p.m. But now more people are eating three meals a day.
Traditionally, men and women do not eat together. Women and girls serve the men and boys first, and after they are finished eating, the women and girls eat what is left over. Guests are always served first, as well.
Traditional bowls were made of wood.
Dishes are cleaned with char from the wood fire, then rinsed several times in buckets of water. This is ecologically sound, although the black char can get on clothes and skin and make a mess.
Traditionally, people ate on unrolled rattan mats on the floor. Now, they usually eat at a table. During the day, however, when the houses are hot, people eat on the rice barn platforms, on rattan mats.

Cooking traditional Toraja food in bamboo tubes over an open fire.

Alcohol

The traditional alcoholic beverage is "tuak," the fermented sap from a special kind of palm tree. The trees are cut open and the sap runs into bamboo tubes. This is then transported to town and sold beside the road. Because there is nothing added to tuak, it is extremely pure and unadulterated, and a lot can be drunk before any negative effects are felt.
The younger people and the people with money now prefer beer, probably because it seems more modern and is a status symbol. But it is much more expensive than tuak.

Marriage

Marriages used to be arranged, and only between members of the same caste. You were not allowed to marry someone from another caste. Families got richer this way, as the combined wealth of two rich families would make an even richer big family. Now, some marriages are still arranged, but it is more common for "love marriages" to take place. Although marriage between members of different castes is permitted, it is still not common, because of the economic factor. No-one wants a financial liability.
During wedding ceremonies, the bride and groom are supposed to look as serious as possible.
After marriage, the man always goes and lives in the woman's village, with her family. Houses are owned by the women of the family.
Traditionally, the husband's family had to give the bride's family a number of buffaloes.

Sharing

Everything is shared: food, clothes, money, possessions of all types. Once you are in the community, you are expected to share what you have. At the same time, people will share everything with you. Because of this, there is no such thing as privacy. Everyone knows everything about everybody. There are no shut doors, and no personal boundaries. The community, the family, the group, are more important than the individual. Whatever money one member of the family earns, she/he must share with the rest of the family. Children who make money share it with their family members.
When people are given a present, it is not normal for them to say thank you and express any emotion.
No-one feels the slightest bit embarrassed about asking anyone for anything.

Division of Labour

Since rice is the staple, the growing and harvesting of it is extremely important. Generally, men work in the rice fields before the harvest. They break up the ground, build mud walls between fields, and sometimes use water buffalo for ploughing. Women plant the rice, transplant the seedlings, and harvest the rice. Men sometimes help with the harvest. Children of both genders help the women.
Cooking is done by the women. The kitchen is the women's realm. Men and women slaughter chickens, and sometimes the men will cook the traditional bamboo food outside.
Men do chores outside, such as build things, fix things, and keep things in order.

Animals

The more animals you have, the richer you are. The ultimate aim is to have a lot of chickens, pigs, and water buffaloe.
Chickens are treated the way dogs are treated in the West; they are coddled, carried around, and cosseted. They always have the run of the farm. The biggest and strongest rooster rules over the entire flock, including all the hens. The rival roosters who have lost out to the biggest one have to stay isolated in baskets.
Pigs are kept in small wooden pens and fed for years until they are really fat.
Buffaloes live in the rice fields and spend a lot of time lolling nostril deep in water. There are buffaloe wallows in the fields.
Goldfish are also kept in the rice fields, and so are ducks. At the end of the day, the ducks are herded home and kept overnight in a basket.
Dogs have the run of the farm, but they are not patted and treated as pets. They are mainly there as alarms so you always know when someone is arriving.
Cats live in the kitchen and are kept to keep the mice away. Cats are not touched or played with. They are considered dirty.
Cats and dogs eat kitchen scraps and leftovers. Pigs eat a special slop made of third-rate rice, water, and kitchen scraps. Chickens eat cooked and uncooked rice. Buffaloes eat grass.

Transportation

In West Toraja, the traditional form of transportation is the horse.
In East Toraja, people got around on foot.
Now, with the change in the economy, only people with no money go by foot. Bemos ply all the roads, even the worst mountain roads.
Hardly anyone has a car, but quite a few people now have motorcycles and bicycles. In the towns, people with money take becaks everywhere. It is considered very dumb to walk anywhere if you have enough money to take a bemo or a becak.

Sex

People do not normally have sex until they are married. Girls and boys do not hang around together. They mainly hang around with each other. This seems to be changing, however; now you do see young, unmarried couples together, but they don't have casual relationships; if they are together, it's because they are in love and are going to get married.
Friendship between members of the opposite sex traditionally didn't happen, but now that also is changing.
Men and women do not touch in public at all. Males touch males, however, and females touch females. In fact, boys are very physical with each other, and girls also are physical with each other. But you very rarely see a man and woman holding hands, for example, and kissing would be considered outrageous.
Joking about sex is very common, though, even in mixed groups. No-one seems to think twice about teasing and making silly comments about sex.

Body Ideals

Thin people are considered ugly. If you are thin, your goal is to put on weight. Thinness is a sign that you are a manual labourer and spend a lot of time doing physical work. If you are chubby or plump, it means you have the money and time to sit around a lot, and you don't walk anywhere. A muscular body also means you are a manual labourer. The ideal body is plump, without very many visible muscles.

Clothes

It is considered rude to show very much of your body, although standards are more relaxed in Toraja than in other parts of Indonesia. Men and boys wear shorts around the home. Even younger women now wear long shorts at home.
To go outside, however, men wear long pants, and women also wear long pants, or skirts. Sleeveless tops are taboo. Sleeves below the elbow are considered ideal.
Most people wear rubber flip flops on their feet. The people who have money wear leather shoes or running shoes. The poorest people do not wear anything on their feet.
Men and women wear sarongs to relax at home, although the younger people tend to wear sarongs less now. Young women, especially, do not wear sarongs, except expensive ikat sarongs at ceremonies.
Everyone, male and female alike, desires expensive Western blue jeans and T-shirts. Jeans, running shoes, and T-shirts are considered very hip.
No-one swims in a bathing suit. Men wear shorts or underwear, and women wear shorts and t-shirts.
There is nothing wrong with men wearing bright, gaudy colours.
In general, men are very well dressed, even if they are poor.

Religion

Everyone believes in God. If you don't, you are considered bizarre and insane.
Most people are Christians, and most of the women, at least, go to church every Sunday. The men attend church less often. Women also attend once-a-week bible study meetings, usually held in the homes of the more fervently religious women. These meetings give the women a break from their home duties, and provide a perfect opportunity to catch up on all the news and gossip.
It seems that only the poorest people in the remote areas are still animists. Christianity is considered much more modern than animism. It is part of the progression into a modern society.

Bathroom habits

In the countryside, people bathe outside, in rivers and lakes, or at a well with a wall. Women wear sarongs, and wash themselves by wetting the sarong. Men wear their underwear or go naked to bathe. Men and women do not bathe together.
Some people have outdoor toilets, but traditionally, people just squatted on the ground, and in a lot of places, this hasn't changed. Men can be seen squatting beside the river. There is no embarrassment about toilet habits.

The Family

The family is all important. No-one lives alone.
There is no real generation gap. Family members of different ages have basically the same interests. Mothers and daughters are best friends and hang around together as much as possible. It is the same with fathers and sons. After school, rather than hanging out with friends, children come home and do chores and hang around with their parents.
Grandparents live with their adult children and their grandchildren. Although they do not do very much work, they are free to do small chores if they want to. They are considered an equal part of the family.
The father is considered the head of the household.

Community and Clan

Toraja people have a very strong sense of identity and culture. No matter where they live, they will always consider themselves to be Toraja first. They are proud of their culture. They have their own language, and it is through speaking this language that they most strongly assert their uniqueness.
Toraja people who have returned home after living away and not speaking Toraja are encouraged to begin speaking the language again.
The land of Toraja also relates very strongly to the hearts of the people.

Funerals

After a person dies, they are not considered really dead and gone until after their funeral. The funeral is the biggest, most elaborate ceremony in Toraja culture. Funerals last three days, the more guests who attend, the better, and the funerals do not take place until months after the person has died.
Animals are sacrificed at the funerals so that their souls can accompany the dead person's soul to heaven, or "puya."
There is much merriment and partying at funerals, especially during cockfights, buffaloe fights, and tuak drinking sessions.
The older and richer the dead person, the bigger and longer the funeral.
There is no distinction between men and women; they get equal treatment at funerals.

Part of the procession to a traditional Toraja house-warming ceremony.

Entertainment

For the males, cockfights provide the best entertainment. They are illegal, but frequent. Although no-one has a telephone, everyone in the whole neighbourhood always knows where the cockfight is. Women do not attend cockfights, unless they are vending food and cigarettes.
Men and women like to watch television, although you need an expensive satellite dish in order to get more than the one government channel that shows only Indonesian programs.
Church events provide spectacles, although more women than men attend.
For everyone, traditional ceremonies provide the best form of entertainment, especially funerals that last many days.
Watching and talking about foreigners also provides a lot of entertainment.
Many young people have guitars and like to sit around strumming them and singing. Toraja people will break into song at the drop of a hat. No-one is self-conscious about singing in public.

Wakeup time and bedtime

Most people get up at 5:30 with the chickens, and go to bed around 9:30. Everyone seems to get a good night's sleep, and they also have a habit of napping at midday. Because electricity is a new thing or is still non-existent, people are more in tune with natural time rhythms.

Back to Travel Information Main Page

Back to Home Page