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The funeral procession or ceremony is one of the striking occasions in Tana Toraja in central Sulawesi in Indonesia. The word funeral generally means the time of grief and mourning, where a person dies and his or near ones shed tears for the unhappy demise. However, the funeral occasion in Tana Torajan is very much different from the normal concept of funeral ceremony. Foe each death in this region, two funeral occasion take place, the first one is a private one which generally take place after the death. The body is preserved at the place where the person has taken his or her last breath. The body is preserved for the next funeral and at this time being money is saved for the second occasion which is undoubtedly take place in a grandeur manner. Like other funeral occasions the people of the Tana Torjana wear black attires to signify the mourning. However, the mourning gets over at this very juncture.
It really becomes very unethical to many of us that why the funeral is marked by celebrations and happiness. The simple reason behind such merry making is that the people of the Tana Torjana consider the death of a person as his next journey to another world marked with happiness and more experience. Thus they whole heartedly make the departure of the person more colorful from the present world. Another striking feature related to the funeral occasion is the slaughtering of the animals, it is considered that as many animals are slaughtered the best will be the other worldly journey for the person.
During the main funeral occasion guests are invited in the funeral party and they are expected to come up with gifts. The gifts are generally animals, the water buffalo is preferred the most as it is the most expensive animal. The animals are gathered in a place and are left at their own fate as they are killed as the occasion reaches its zenith. The sacrifice of the animals marks the most important aspect of the funeral festival. The lives of the animals determine the abode of the death person in the next world.
Though strange but this celebration marks an important aspect to the life of the people in the Tana Tojana. They are very much enthusiastic about the festival as they want their loved ones to go for a heavenly abode.
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