Tana Toraja Land Tours South Sulawesi

The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 650,000, of which 450,000 still live in the regency of Tana Toraja (“Land of Toraja”).Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk (“the way”). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo (“Way of the Ancestors”).

The word toraja comes from the Bugis language’s to riaja, meaning “people of the uplands”. The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909.Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.

Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists.By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model — in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo—to a largely Christian society.

Source: http://birabeachhotels.com/tana-toraja-land-tours-south-sulawesi-05-days-04-nights-adventure-trip.html

List of Vocabularies

• Indigenous  : asli, pribumi
• Approximately : kira-kira
• Renowned : termashyur
• Funeral : pemakaman
• Cliff : tempat yang terjal, jurang
• Attended : dihadiri
• Autonomous : bersifat otonomi

Answer the question below based on the text you read.

1. What province does Toraja etnic belong?
2. How many religion/beliefs are in there?
3. What does the word “Toraja” mean?
4. What things make Toraja become so popular?
5. When was Tana Toraja opened to the outside world?

Write T (True) or F (False) to each of the following statements.

1. Toraja is one of the popular etnics in Sulawesi. ___
2. All people in Toraja Land are Christian. ___
3. The word “Toraja” comes from Torajan Language. ___
4. Torajans practiced animism before 1900s. ___
5. Toraja society had just changed significantly in 1970s. ___