Table Of ContentTHE SA'DAN-TORAJA
In Remembrance of Dr. Henk van der Veen
VERHANDELINGEN
VAN HET KONINKLIJK INSTITUUT
VOOR TAAL-, LAND-EN VOLKENKUNDE
87
HETTY NOOY-PALM
THE SA'DAN-TORAJA
A STUDY OF THEIR SOCIAL LIFE AND RELIGION
I
ORGANIZATION, SYMBOLS AND BELIEFS
Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V. 1979
ISBN 978-94-017-7152-8 ISBN 978-94-017-7150-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-7150-4
© Copyright 1979 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Origina11y pub1ished by Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde,
Leiden, the Netherlands in 1979.
All rights reserved, including the right to translate
or to reproduce this book or parts thereoj in any form.
PREFACE
The original incentive for this monograph derives from a brief
period of research in 1949-1950. At the time I made a series of notes
primarily conceming the material culture of the Sa'dan-Toraja, a people
inhabiting part of the region which is now designated as Sulawesi
Selatan (South-Celebes). Polideal unrest during the fifties disrupted
my fieldwork, and I left the region.
In 1965 I returned to my early notes. Assisted by Dr. H. van der
Veen, I traced supplementary and more detailed information in avail
able literature. Dr. Van der Veen, an expert not only in the language
but also in the ethnography of the Sa'dan-Toraja, was once hirnself
engaged in writing an ethnographic study of this people. He had
already amassed an extraordinary quantity of material when war broke
out; during the subsequent era of the Japanese occupation of Indo
nesia most of his data were lost. Some articles and papers, however,
survived. Thanks to Dr. Van der Veen's incredible memory, it proved
possible with the passage of time to flesh out his data and my early
field-llotes to a greater and greater extent. Nevertheless gaps remained.
Dr. Van der Veen then proposed the possibility of my retuming to
the scene itself; his suggestion appeared realizable, for, by now, the
political climate for fieldwork had improved considerably. I had the
opportunity to continue my investigations in Tana Toraja during four
successive visits of a few months' duration: September-November 1966,
September-December 1969, September-December 1970 and November
January 1972-1973.
Now that this first volume is ready for publication I wish first of
all to express my gratitude to the late Dr. H. van der Veen, to whose
memory this volume is dedicated. He died on the 19th of October 1977
at the age of 89. He was not only a fine scholar; he also was a man
of profoundly humane feelings and great kindness. His enduring
friendship over the years of our cooperation provided more than mere
encouragement. It was an honour.
To the institutions which, by their financial and moral support,
enabled me to carry out the necessary fieldwork and to publish the
VI The Sa'dan-Toraja
results in the form now presented to the reader I am deeply indebted:
first, the Royal Tropical Institute at Amsterdam which paid my salary
during my fieldtrips, and kindly gave me the opportunity for working
out my notes, providing me continually with indispensable secret,arial
and technical aid; second, WOTRO, the Netherlands Foundation for
the Advancement of Tropical Research, which subsidized my fieldtrip
of 1969, and later met the costs of translating the present volume into
English; third, the Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology at
Leiden (the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde)
which accepted this volume for publication in its V erhandelingen
(Transactions); fourth the Treub Maatschappij (the Society for Scien
tific Research in the Tropics) at Utrecht which subsidized my field
trips of 1966 and 1970; and fifth, the Wenner Gren Foundation for
Anthropological Research which provided a grant-in-aid for my final
trip in 1972-1973.
For moral support, I wish to thank first of all LIPI (Lembaga Ilmu
Pengetahuan Indonesia), the Indonesian Institute for the Advancement
of Science at Ja karta. In this context I wish to extend personal thanks
for their friendly cooperation and helpfulness to Prof. Dr. R. M. Koen
tjaraningrat, Ms. Sjamsiah Achmad, Mr. Teuku Mohammad M. Radhie,
Mr. Suhartono Sudargo, and Mr. Napitupulu.
Among the Toraja who affered me significant support during my
research, I wish to mention first of all the late Allo Rante, also called
Ne' Sangga, (he died December 16, 1974) and his nephew Bua'
Sarungallo, both from Kesu'. Valuable assistance also came from
Misters F. K. Sarungallo, Roson Panimba, J. Tammu, L. Pakan and
the families Palete and Pasaka, also from Kesu'; from Mr. Lebang
(Ne' Muda), his son Thana Lebang and Enoch Palo'lean Amba Titedok,
one-time to minaa of Nonongan; from Danduru Sampe Litak, Izak
Sorreng Palajukan of Buntao'; from Puang W. P. Sombolinggi' and
Puang Paliwan Tandilangi' of Sangalla'; from Misters J. Somba,
S. S. Mangende', L. T. Tangdilintin, J. Lobo and Drs. C. Salombe, all
of Ujung Pandang.
The help of Mr. Tampubolon, then bupati of Tana Toraja, was of
particular importance. I also like to thank the families De Heer,
Van Heest, Kobong and Palamba. Mrs. J. M. Eggink and the family
Ch. B. Tau-Karundeng kindly affered me accommodations and thereby
spared me considerable daily cares. I also like to thank W. Meyer,
physician in Ujung Pandang.
While I was occupied with making my material presentable,
Preface VII
Dr. Va n der Veen lent comfort and aid. He made available with dis
interested generosity, vast quantities of the information at his disposal.
Upon his instigation many litanies and songs are included in the text;
the translations come from his hand. Various annotations and clarific
ations in the following pages can also be attributed to him. For his
kindness I am deeply appreciative.
The especially vivid photographs rendering landscapes and depicting
the Toraja at various activities were taken by Mr. F. van der Kooi
in 1937 and presented to Dr. H. van der Veen at the time for scientific
use. Drawings and diagrams in this article are the work of Mr. Subo
kastowo, Ms. Suzanne Taub, Mr. S. Pronk, Mr. Kees van Dam, Mrs. A.
Ruygrok-Haakma Wagenaar and Mr. Roh Berkel.
To Dr. Donald Bloch who translated the text into English, and to
Prof. J. van Baal who assumed the burden of editorship, I owe many
thanks.
For their contributions to what follows I would also like to thank
Mss. L. van den Bovenkamp-Rodrigues Nunes, R. de Graaf, F. G. C.
Rincker and U. Veenstra.
The present volume is the first of two. lt consists of two parts, Part I
dealing with the natural surroundings and the social and territorial
organization of the Sa'dan-Toraja, Part II with religious notions,
natural and material symbols, and priestly organization. Volume li,
which will hopefully appear in due time, will contain a description
of Sa'dan-Toraja rituals, those associated with the East in Part III,
and those with the West in Part IV.
One of the difficulties with which I had io cope in my research,
was the variegation of Toraja society. These Toraja nurober some
310,000 people, who occupy an area of 3,242 square km. Although
their ethnic unity is beyond doubt, local variations of customs and
rites are numerous. I confined my fieldwork to the districts of Buntao',
Kesu' (with Nonongan), Tikala and Riu, Tondon, and Sangalla'
(Sangalla' is one of the three districts formerly ruled by a prince).*
Most of the data here presented come from these six districts.
In my fieldwork I relied heavily on the use of unstructured interviews.
In conversations I readily could profit from the clear insight which
many Toraja have into their own culture. They quickly understood
* Throughout this book the term district is used in the sence of an adat-unit,
a community incorporating several thousand people who live in a varying
number of villages which belong together traditionally.
VIII The Sa'dan-Toraja
the gist of my inqumes. Many drawings, slides, photographs, films
and tape recordings enabled me to re-examine various experiences at
leisure once back in The Netherlands; these constituted a great and
welcome aid to my memory.
One of my problems was (and is) how to discover the principal
configurations which dominate the patterns of Sa'dan-Toraja cultural
life. I sincerely hope that this book will lead to a discussion of what,
in fact, the main themes are which give structure to the rather con
fusing wealth of their ritual and ceremonial forms. On my part, I have
tried to make a contribution to further studies by giving special
attention to rituals and symbols and how these manifest themselves
within the material culture. One thing I quickly learned: a structural
interpretation of the materials which I accumulated döes not merely
reflect the predisposition of the ethnographer. Many Toraja informants
seemed 'born structuralists' in the sense that they were conscious of
Oppositions within their culture. This made it of special interest to
try to determine how a Toraja perceives this structure and, since he
lives as it were together with his ancestors, how he conceives of the
relation between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
Finally, I must add a note on spelling. Throughout this work we
adhere to modern Indonesian spelling which differs in certain regards
from the spelling formerly introduced by the Dutch: j stands for the
old dj; c for tj; y for j. This spelling is also applied to Toraja words.
There is no j (dj) or c (tj) in their language, so that they speak of
themselves as Toraya.
CONTENTS
P.reface V
PART I. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SfRUCTURE
I. The Sa'dan-Toraja and their environment . 1
I.1 Introducdon 1
1.2 The land 2
1.3 Present-day administration . 3
1.4 The name Sa'dan-Toraja; differentiation from neigh
bouring ethnicities 6
1.5 Toraja history, a resume 8
1.6 Economics 12
1.7 A critical apprais.al of available Iiterature about the
Sa'dan-Toraja · 13
Annex Ia: Population of Tana Toraja in 1930 . 20
Annex Ib: Population of Tana Toraja in 1975 . 20
II. Kinship structure . 22
II.1 Descent groups 22
Il.1.1 Ancestor-focus . 24
II.1.2 Status ramages 26
II.2 Ego-focus: the kindred 27
Il.3 Affinal kin (rampean) 27
Il.4 Kinship terminology . 28
Il.4.1 Consanguines 28
II.4.2 Affines 30
II.S Marriage. 30
Il.5.1 Forms of marriage; marriage prescriptions and
restrictions 30
II.5.2 The kapa' 34
II.5.3 Children in the adat-system 37
II.6 Summary 41
Annex IIa: Kinship terminology . 41
III. The classes . 43
III.1 Class division in Kesu' . 43
III.1.1 Kesu' 43
III.1.2 Nonongan 52
III.1.3 Titles and duties 53
III.2 Classes in Sangalla' 54
III.3 Summary 57
IV. Traditional socio-political organization . 58
IV.1 Traditional political units . 58
IV.1.1 Adat-communities 59
IV.1.2 The bua'- or penanian-communities . 60
