Rituals and myths at the death ceremony of the Toraja People: Studies on the Rambu Solo Ceremony

Abstract

Rambu Solo is a well-known ritual or traditional ceremony from the Toraja tribe in South Sulawesi. Rambu Solo is tribute to the funeral of the Toraja people who died. With lots of culture and tradition in Indonesia, the ritual of Rambu Solo is distinguished as being very sacred, scary and also expensive. The aim of this study is to find out how the Toraja tribe is still preserving the sacred tradition of Rambu Solo in this modern era. The author utilized the qualitative approach to analyze the rituals and myths at the death ceremony of the Toraja people. In order to help the author doing the analysis, Cultural Identity theory from Stuart Hall is applied in this study. To assist the author with the analysis, the author took the data from YouTube and other literary works related to this ritual. The result indicates that even though this funeral ceremony is sacred, scary, and costly, the Toraja people keeps preserving their tradition from generation to generation. Rambu Solo adalah sebuah ritual atau upacara adat yang terkenal dari suku Toraja di Sulawesi Selatan. Rambu Solo merupakan penghormatan terhadap pemakaman orang Toraja yang meninggal. Dengan banyaknya budaya dan tradisi di Indonesia, ritual Rambu Solo berbeda karena ritual ini sangat sakral, menakutkan dan juga mahal. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui bagaimana suku Toraja masih melestarikan tradisi sakral Rambu Solo di era modern ini. Penulis menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif untuk menganalisis ritual dan mitos pada upacara kematian orang Toraja. Untuk membantu penulis melakukan analisis, teori Identitas Budaya dari Stuart Hall diterapkan dalam penelitian ini. Penulis mengambil data dari YouTube dan karya sastra lainnya yang terkait dengan ritual Rambu Solo. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa meskipun upacara pemakaman ini sacral, menakutkan dan mengeluarkan banyak biaya, masyarakat Toraja tetap melestarikan tradisi mereka dari generasi ke generasi.

Disclosure of Sociocultural Status Through Hyperbolic Metaphors in Indigenous Toraja Funeral Ceremonies

“…Thus, in the analysis of stylistics, sociocultural factors are essential to consider. Specifically, in the implementation of the Rambu Solo' ceremony, sociocultural factors such as nobility status are crucial to observe during the ceremony [2,7,12,13].…”

“…The language or discourse of the Rambu Solo' ritual is referred to as high-level Toraja language [11][12][13]. It is called so because the ability to convey this language is only possessed by certain individuals, and its delivery must not deviate from the ongoing traditional situation or event.…”

“…Furthermore, Zyngier emphasizes the importance of the socio-cultural aspect, the cultural factor, possessed by a society in understanding the style of literary works [10,12,13]. This opens up avenues for researching the ritual discourse of the Rambu Solo' ceremony using sociocultural stylistics.…”

The Intricate Tapestry of Toraja Spirituality: An Exploration of Animism, Ancestor Veneration, and Symbolic Rituals

“…For the indigenous people of Toraja, offerings are very important in death rituals including the implementation of ma'nene' or corpse preservation tradition. The offering of food and other objects became a symbol of the close and inseparable relationship between the living and the deceased families (Sihombing, 2022b). Defenitely, this food offering also shows the social spirit of Torajan people who care so much about others (Kombongkila et al, 2023).…”

“…According to the legend of puang lakipadada, these ethnic groups are bound by a kinship. puang lakipadada has four children: patta la bantan (in the land of Sangalla'), patta la bunga' (in the land of Luwu), patta la merang (in the land of Gowa), and patta la didi (in the land of Bone) (Baan et al, 2022;Sihombing, 2022a). Additionally, Toraja possesses a remarkable and enchanting array of customs and culture that are to be cherished and preserved (Sandarupa et al, 2021).…”