By an office-holder
Rambu Solo' (season)
Chiefly July to September, set by the family
Not a single date. The time is set by each family according to readiness and the presence of migrants; July–September is a season, not a rule.
Toraja
People Sulawesi Selatan
Maintained
Other and rejected name forms
A rejected form remains searchable so that older sources stay findable, but it is never used in the prose of an entry.
Toraja
Primary name
To Riaja
Alternate name
Toraya
Alternate name
Toradja
Historical form
A highland people of South Sulawesi whose customary life turns on the tongkonan house and on two ceremonial poles: rambu tuka', rising smoke, for life, and rambu solo', descending smoke, for death.
Tongkonan
Tongkonan derives from tongkon, to sit. It is at once an origin house and a social body: membership of a tongkonan determines who is obliged to contribute buffalo to whose ceremony. A person may belong to several tongkonan at once through both parents, so that obligations accumulate and are carefully reckoned.
Aluk To Dolo and the church
Aluk To Dolo, the way of the ancestors, is the religious framework preceding Christian mission and governing both ceremonial poles. Since Reformed mission arrived early in the twentieth century most of the population has become Christian, while rambu solo' has continued. Aluk To Dolo was officially classified as a branch of Hinduism in 1969, an administrative classification arising from Indonesia's requirements for religious recognition rather than from any judgement of its content.
In the calendar
By an office-holder
Ma'nene'
August, after harvest, set by each village
Not simultaneous; each village sets its own and some do not hold it every year.
Corrections to this entry
Correction
Date correction. The official classification of Aluk To Dolo as a branch of Hinduism was previously given as 1970; the correct year is 1969.
Keep reading
Practice
Rambu Solo'
The Toraja mortuary sequence, held months or years after death, whose cost is borne by a network of obligations between tongkonan…
Vigorous
Belief system
Aluk To Dolo
Jalan leluhur Toraja yang mengatur dua kutub upacara; digolongkan secara resmi sebagai cabang Hindu pada 1969.
Attenuated
Practice
Ma'nene'
The cleaning and re-clothing of ancestral remains, performed periodically in several districts of North Toraja.
Maintained