Powers of Blessing from the Wilderness and from Heaven: Structure and Transformations in the Religion of the Toraja in the Mamasa Area of South Sulawesi (Verhandelingen)

Women run screaming from their village at night, leaving all their clothes behind—possessed by spirits of the wilderness, they climb up a barana tree. It is but one of the fascinating rituals of the Toraja people described in this study. The Toraja people live in the mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their religion is an ancient one predating the Hindu and Buddhist religions that arrived in Indonesia some 1,500 years ago. It is marked by a dualism in male and female elements, a characteristic of rituals the older people in the western Toraja region, Mamasa, still remember. Three rituals, the headhunting, fertility, and tree-climbing rites, are dealt with in detail, while in the marriage, childbirth, and mortuary rituals point to a shift in Toraja beliefs. Where once both earth and celestial deities were expected to bless ritual participants, the Toraja, influenced by developments in their physical environment, now devote their attention to the deities of the heavens, while those of the earth are disappearing. "Women run screaming from their village at night, leaving all their clothes behind - possessed by spirits of the wilderness, they climb up a barana' tree. It is but one of the fascinating rituals of the Toraja people described in this study." "The Toraja people live in the mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their religion is an ancient one predating the Hindu and Buddhist religions that arrived in Indonesia some 1,500 years ago. It is marked by a dualism in male and female elements, a characteristic of ritual, the older people, in the western Toraja region, Mamasa, still remember. Three rituals, the headhunting, fertility, and tree-climbing rites, are dealt with in detail, while the marriage, childbirth, and mortuary rituals point to a shift in Toraja beliefs. Where once both earth and celestial deities were expected to bless ritual participants, the Toraja, influenced by developments in their physical environment, now devote their attention to the deities of the heavens, while those of the earth are disappearing. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET The Toraja And Their Religion -- Theoretical Survey -- Cosmology As Expression Of Religious Ideas -- Classification Of Rituals -- Rituals For The Dead -- Rituals For Marriage And Childbirth -- Simbuang -- Fertility Play -- Mekolong -- Toburake -- Pa'bisuan -- Bulu Londong -- Transformations. Kees Buijs. Revised Version Of The Author's Dissertation Presented To Universiteit Leiden In 2004. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [245]-251) And Index.