INDONESIA: In Tana Toraja, Indonesia, the
dead are removed from their tombs to replace
their clothing each year. The Toraja people
have fascinating rituals surrounding death and
the afterlife. When someone dies, their ritual
states that the deceased are to be buried in the
town they were born in (and not necessarily in
the town in which they have died).
Further research into the term “Rolang”
uncovered a Tibetan connection. This one is
even more freaky. In this scenario, a holy man
(a “ngagspa”) gets shut up in a dark room with
the newly deceased and lies on top of the
corpse, wrapping his arms around it and
placing his mouth over the mouth of said dead
person (EWWW!). By breathing into the dead
body’s mouth, the corpse is eventually
revived, and leaps to it’s feet, attempting to
escape the grasp of the ngagspa. The holy man
must hold onto the thrashing corpse, or he
will be killed. Oh, and he has to wait for it to
stick out its tongue, so he can bite it off.
Apparently the tongue makes a powerful
magic weapon used in healing etc.
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”).
Torajans, who lived in highland areas,
identified with their villages and did not share
a broad sense of identity. Although complexes
of rituals created linkages between highland
villages, there were variations in dialects,
differences in social hierarchies, and an array
of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland
region.
The picture below which was first placed on
the indonesian blog mamasa-
online.blogsport.com talks about a personal
story involving the walking corpses of Tojara,
Indonesia. But only recently the picture is
gaining attention.
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