Unique Holiday Destination: Toraja Grave Tree

Indonesia has thousands of ethnic groups who have their own culture. Here I want to tell about a place that is a very unique, that performs a unique tradition that can be your holiday destination.

Every human race has its own culture or tradition, the tradition that was given from the ancestor. In Tana Toraja a city in south Sulawesi lives a very unique tradition. The unique tradition to bury children who die before their teeth was grown. Commonly the dead people are buried at the ground or burned, but in Toraja, they bury the body in the tree. The tree that is used is Tara tree. Many bodies may be buried at a tree as it may consist of 10 bodies or more.

The Toraja people believe that the spirit of the dead children will always live and they unite with the spirit of the tree. They bury the dead children with certain body position, the dead body should not be placed facing their home. The reason of the position is that they believe the spirit will bother the family if the body is facing their house.

The position of the grave is based on their caste, the higher class will be placed at the higher part of the three, and the lower class will be placed at the lower of the tree. The red circle at the potograph shows the position of the grave.

I believe that Toraja will be a good destination of your holiday, it is unique and very interesting.