animals.

On the eve of the funeral is the Mabolong, when the body is moved from the back room to the middle room.

There are usually three rooms in a tongkonan (Toraja house with roofs that curve at both ends).

A pig and a buffalo are slaughtered to mark this occasion.

Only then will the dead person be considered dead.

The body is then placed in a coffin under the rice barn opposite the house.

The tau tau effigy is then commissioned.

These are usually carved from nangka (jackfruit) wood.

A lakkian (funeral tower) is constructed at the rante or village ceremonial place.

The coffin is suspended on the lakkian during the ceremony.

Animals are slaughtered and there will be mourning, music, dancing and feasting.

The blood and meat are cooked together and served.

Then the coffin is lowered andare red, black, yellow and white to symbolise blood, darkness, blessings and the soul respectively.

Lower class Torajans cannot stay in painted tongkonans or one with symbols.

The best places to see a traditional upper class tongkonan are at Kete Kesu (Bonoron countryside, Sangalangi District, about 4km south of Rantepao city) and Pallawa (about 12km north of Rantepao city).

The curved roof is said to represent the boats that the Torajans used to sail to Sulawesi.

The tongkonan is an iconic symbol used in many government buildings in Rantepao and as you reach Tana Toraja, you pass through an elaborate gate with a tongkonan roof.

Even a hotel in Makassar uses this design for its architecture.

The middle supporting pole of the tongkonan in front of the house usually boasts a row of buffalo