chapter 2 Headlines of the Religion of the Toraja’s in West Sulawesi
Toraja’s in West Sulawesi
Toraja is the name of several people who live in the mountainous areas of Central, South, and West Sulawesi. Because of the difference in languages, a distinction was made between the Bare’e Toraja’s in Central Sulawesi and the Tae’ Toraja’s in South and West Sulawesi, according to the negation in their languages bare’e or tae’ (A.C. Kruyt, De Bare’e sprekende Toraja’s, iii,1914:1–2). Today the people in Central Sulawesi do not use the name Toraja anymore. They are now called the Kaili people also with a distinction according to the negation, for instance the Kaili Da’a who live in the mountains between Pasang Kayu, Donggala, and Palu. In this study I concentrate especially on the Toraja’s who live in the area of the Mamasa River. Since 2002 this area of the Mamasa River forms a separate dis- trict, also with the name Mamasa, in which the central place is called Mamasa as well. In 2004 the Mamasa district became part of a new province, West Sulawesi, together with the coastal areas of Polewali and Mamuju. The Toraja’s who live around the Sa’dan River to the east of the Mamasa area are closely re- lated to the Toraja’s around the Mamasa River. Their living area is usually called Tana Toraja, while the area around the Mamasa River is called Mamasa.1
Changes in the Religion of the Toraja’s
Until the middle of the 20th century the majority of the Toraja’s lived in the traditional religion that is called the aluk to yolo, which means ‘the religion of the people who lived in former times’. In fact this expression is not correct because until today a minority of the Toraja’s still lives in this religion. Toraja’s in Tana Toraja use also the expression alukta, meaning ‘our religion’. In this study I will use the word aluk2 in regard to the traditional religion of the Toraja’s.
1 See for the Mamasa area in relation to the area of Tana Toraja: Buijs 2006:10–16. 2 The expression aluk means ‘religion’ and can be described as ‘the religious ideas and their rules which have to be obeyed by the people’ (Buijs 2006:21).
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Figure 3 In the traditional religion deceased people of high nobility were put upright for some days in the house where they had lived. This tradition, called dipatadongkon, is still practiced nowadays.
When the Dutch government started to rule over the Mamasa area in 1907 (Bigalke 2005:51–62), they allowed Christian missionaries to spread the Chris- tian faith (Van der Klis 2006:22–26; Volkman 1985:29–30). In the beginning, many people joined the new religion,3 although not long thereafter many of them returned to the traditional aluk. However, the Christian religion contin- ued to propagate, and in the middle of the twentieth century the majority of the Toraja’s had embraced the new faith. Most of them joined the Christian church, the Gereja Toraja Mamasa, which had formally established itself dur- ing a church meeting in June 1947. In the following years the people in sev- eral villages remained in the belief and practices of the aluk and many others still felt very much attracted by the religion of their parents and ancestors, al- though formally they had joined the Christian church (Figure 3). Over the years of the 20th century, some Muslim families settled in the central place of the Mamasa area, Mamasa, and also along the main roads. When Mamasa became a district with its own government in 2002, the Muslim community grew quickly. Many Muslim civil servants were appointed in high
3 The first missionaries came from the Indische Kerk followed in 1928 by missionaries from the Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken in the Netherlands.