Where: Indonesia, Sulawesi, Tana Toraja, Pangala
People: Torajans
Religion: Aluk To Dolo (Way of the Ancestors)
Ritual: Ma’nene
This is a mix of images I have taken during the two times I visited Tana Toraja, Indonesia, documenting the Ma’nene ceremony.
During a Ma’nene ceremoni, families gather and open the family tombs, bring out their dead relatives, clean them and dress them up in clean clothes and dry them briefly in the sun before returning them to the grave. Family members take photographs together with the ancestors as part of the ritual. Honouring the dead in this way is believed to bring luck and maintain the bond between the living and the ancestors.
In some places the Ma’nene ceremony is held every year and in other places every second or third year – and only after rice harvest.
The Torajans believe that the Ma’nene ritual is based on an old mythical tale about a hunter, Pong Rumasek, who was out wandering in the mountains. Here he came across a dead person, whom he wrapped in his own clothes and buried. From that moment on, luck and prosperity followed him and his family.
