Mystical is the immediate impression when the foot comes up on the last stair tread and the head look into the old Tongkonan, dark and dusty. Preview corpse lay was state in Tongkonan for months, even years, ambushed mind, when the eyes were in one small room with halls waist-high in a corner space in Tongkonan.

Kete Kesu Village, Tongkonan, dead bodies, traditional village, tomb kings, sulawesi, gravestones, toraja

Ke’te’ Kesu’, a small traditional village in Tana Toraja, Central Sulawesi. Area consisting of eight Tongkonan parent, complete with rice barns in front of each Tongkonan, it became one tourist destination in Tana Toraja. Location approximately three miles from the highway, or 20 minutes drive from Kruger National Park District, one of the crowded center of Tana Toraja. Approached the scene, you are treated to sights Tongkonan that line, in between trees in the foreground of green rice fields. You were forced to stop for a moment seemed to enjoy the beautiful scenery, before entering the village on foot Ke’te’ Kesu’. Entrance fee is not expensive Rp5.000 for domestic tourists and Rp10,000 for foreign tourists. Unfortunately there is not many are visiting the place. From the guest book provided by the guard, it recorded no more than 20 people visitors each day.

Residents relax in their homes which were located in the back row of Tongkonan. While in the back and side Tongkonan the end, were two shops craft with two craftsmen carved paintings completed in each stall. In Ke’te’ Kesu’, tourists can feel the aroma of the traditional life of Toraja peoples. Of course the tour is the mainstay Tongkonan row, one of whom was aged about 150 years. Roof structures made of bamboo are overgrown with wild plants. Looking at the row that lined Tongkonan Ke’te’ Kesu’, was drawn up dozens of buffalo horns in front of each dependent Tongkonan. While on the outer side wall, there were remain jaw bone of a buffalo head. Everything was a mark of how many buffalo had been sacrificed at the death ceremony performed. Indeed buffalo became victims as the death of animals. According to their beliefs, the spirits of buffalo became a means of transportation for the spirits of people who died on the way to Puya (heaven), which were located in the south. No wonder when the price of buffalo in Tana Toraja is very expensive. The cheapest was used for funeral rites for no less than Rp 10 million each. There’s even a kind of buffalo worth about Rp 50 million each, namely Bonga or Buffalo Tedong Bule.

Besides enjoying the old tongkonan, visitors can see up close the craftsmen who carved painted wood. There are four colors are always unique in Toraja well decorated carving wood and painting other crafts. The colors are black as a symbol of death using ash, red as a symbol of blood using liquefied soil, the yellow means joy with the material from the soil, as well as white as a symbol of purity with dye from limestone.

In complex Ke’te’ Kesu’, visitors also can see the tomb and the stone, which is located about 50 yards behind Tongkonan. At the end of the road to a stone tomb, there is the tomb Sarungalo. Sarungalo is a respected nobleman in Tana Toraja. Sarungalo large family lived in Ke’te’ Kesu’, and to be donated tourism village. Because rural residence made tours, Sarungalo heirs receive 50 percent of ticket revenues, while the rest is taken of local government. Sarungalo who died 15 years ago, buried with his wife in a modern tomb called Patane. It is not the same tomb with the grave stone Toraja society in general, because the shape of a house. Above the entrance, visitors can clearly see the statue of Sarungalo wearing a yellow jacket. After a look around the grave Sarungalo, your travel continues to climb the small hill, a height no more than 10 meters. On the left side of the street, there is the rock which is filled with holes. In the holes easily found bones and human skulls littering As the head looking up, looking crates that had rotted hanging from the ceiling stone cracks, with a wooden brace. From inside the coffin were the bones and skull seemed scattered. Tomb stones at Ke’te’Kesu’ are including the oldest in Tana Toraja. Stone tomb was estimated more than 700 years.

As he stepped into higher ground again in the rock, can be seen wood sculptures as a representation of those who were buried there. There are dozens of statues that are placed in a small gap in the bay, with a barred metal door. The presence of iron doors is to prevent theft of wooden statues. Making stone tomb is quite complicated and expensive. To make a grave stone measuring two meters wide, two meters tall, and the depth of two meters, it takes the about 300 days. Not surprisingly, the biggest cost for Toraja society is the time of death. Can imagine how much money must be spent to prepare the grave stones, dozens of pigs and buffaloes for sacrifice?