The Sa'dan-Toraja

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 concerning the material culture of the Sa’dan-Toraja, a people inhabiting part of the region which is now designated as Sulawesi Selatan (South-Celebes). Political 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 available literature. Dr. Van der Veen, an expert not only in the language but also in the ethnography of the Sa’dan-Toraja, was once himself 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 Indonesia 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-notes to a greater and greater extent, Nevertheless gaps remained. Dr. Van der Veen then proposed the possibility of my returning 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 secretarial 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 Verhandelingen (Transactions); fourth the Treub Maatschappij (the Society for Scientific Research in the Tropics) at Utrecht which subsidized my fieldtrips 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 Jakarta. In this context I wish to extend personal thanks for their friendly cooperation and helpfulness to Prof. Dr. R. M. Koentjaraningrat, Ms. Sjamsiah Achmad, Mr. Teuku Mohammad M. Radhie, Mr. Suhartono Sudargo, and Mr. Napitupulu.

Among the Toraja who offered 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. Tan-Karundeng kindly offered 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. Van der Veen lent comfort and aid. He made available with disinterested 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 clarifications 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. Subokastowo, Ms. Suzanne Taub, Mr. S. Pronk, Mr. Kees van Dam, Mrs. A. Ruygrok-Haakma Wagenaar and Mr. Rob 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. It 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 II, 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 to cope in my research, was the variegation of Toraja society. These Toraja number 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 inquiries. 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 confusing 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 does 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.

Preface .

Part I

alm ee A Wh =

TEA a a NOU

Contents

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STRUCTURE

The Sa’dan-Toraja and their environment .

Introduction po

Part II. VI

Vil

Patang penanian; other ROE SARS ;

The lembang . : Buntao’, an autonomous patang penanian i

The federation of Kesu’. .

The princedom of Sangala’, one of the Tallulembangna . . B ox. 8 ss Ma’kale and Mengkendek .

The village: functions

Introduction

Kinship in the settlement .

Local divisions in connection with the offices which village residents hold Dr EE as

Summary

RELIGIOUS NOTIONS, SYMBOLS AND FUNCTIONARIES

Prominent characteristics of eee orale big ea

Introduction

Principles of classification in Sa’dan-Toraja cos-

mology Ee be a

The gods

Souls, ancestors and ‘spirits

Souls (bombo) .

Ancestors

Spirits (localized) .

Dangerous spirits and dangerous people

The concepts of spirit and soul; conclusion

Annex Va: Schematic representation of Sa’dan- Toraja cosmology

Annex Vb: The family tree of the gods (Kesu’) .

Mythology Myths about the creation of the universe and ‘the institution of rituals .

‘Kesu’: Passomba pe the consecration of the buffalo i ;

The creation myth as ; handed. down in Riu

The creation myth from Tikala .

Myths telling about the arrival of the ancestors on earth and the adventures of their descendants . The to manurun in the Pe: Tamborolangi’

Lakipadada ; E oe OM OR Tamborolangi’ .

The adventures of Lakipadada

The to manurun in Kesu’ .

Manaek and Polopadang

Polopadang and Deatanna .

The to manurun in Riu.

69 72

79 91 92 92 94

94 104

107 107

129 132

133 134

134 139 144

Contents

The arrival of the ancestors from the island of Pongko’ . '

Myths concerning the consequences of incest . Miscellaneous myths . E te ni Ulelean; introduction ;

Tales of thievery and the underworld .

The tale of Pong Sumbung Sare Pio .

The myth of Marampio Padang

Tulangdidi and Bulu Pala’ .

Tulangdidi’ . ; ,

Bulu Pala’. .

Till Eulenspiegel tales

The myth of Pano Bulaan .

Rangga Bulaan .

Animals and plants in ritual and myth .

White and pied buffaloes .

Colour, markings and other characteristics .

The family tree of the kerbau

The kerbau in art and in ritual .

The buffalo as a symbol of the ramage’s power and wealth . . .. a a ane den The division of the meat ' ;

Pemanala; the parts of the pesung i

The pig. .

Division of the meat after the sacrifice of a pig in Kesu’ . . en The chicken

Other birds

The dog

The cat .

Beliefs and categories

Prohibitions and customs .

The snake and the eel .

The tree of life f

The bate manurun, the flag’ which came down from heaven bede WP ede A

Rice .

Millet

Maize .

The tabang (Cordyline terminalis): bloodwort Langsat (langsa’, Lansium domesticum)

Induk (sugar palm, Arenga saccharifera) .

The banana so me a a 4

Ipo . .

Bilante (Homolanthus populneus)

Suke bombo

Cotton and other plants .

XI

184 184 184 192 193

200 202 206 207

VIII. Material symbols .

VIII.1 The tongkonan .

VIII.1.1 General description of the tongkonan; function . VIII.1.2 The internal layout of a tongkonan . VIII.1.3 Woodcarving; special motifs .

VIII.1.4 The a’riri posi’

VIII.1.5 The ampak bilik or ruma-ruma .

VIII.1.6 The tongkonan as a cosmic symbol .

VIII.1.7 The house in history and yt and the ritual of its construction ‘ ‘ ey ae ae ane VIII.2 The ricebarn VIII.3 Other symbols: kandaure, swords, krisses, ‘sacral textiles and drums TEE VIII.3.1 Kandaure VIII.3.2 Swords VIII.3.3 Krisses and other weapons .

VIII.3.4 Sacral cloths 2 4 VIII.3.5 Drums .

VIIL4 The grave, ‘the house from which no ‘smoke rises’ VIII.5 The tau-tau (effigies) VIII.5.1 Manufacture of a tau-tau VIII.5.2 Function of the tau-tau .

VIII.6 Megaliths VITI.6.1 Description VIII.6.2 The raising of a monolith .

VIII.6.2a Mangriu’ batu, the hauling of a monolith in Kesu’ VIII.6.2b In Sangalla’ Buc a a VIII.6.3 Other stones VIII.7 Sacrificial shrines . .

VIII.7.1 Substitutes for the celestial ladder . VIII.7.2 Other shrines and receptacles .

IX. Priests . ..

IX.1 The to minaa .

IX.2 The to menani IX.3 The to indo’ padang IX.4 The to mebalun . .

IX.5 The to burake: the to burake tattiku’ and the to burake tambolang TE ee. E IX.6 The to ma’dampi IX.7 The burake and “the priests of neighbouring peoples; Summary ; Notes .

Glossary and index ; Bibliography Photographs

Appendix

245 252

274 275 279 279 280

282 289

292 294 506 327

PART I

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STRUCTURE

Chapter I The Sa’dan-toraja And Their Environment +

I.1 Introduction

It is market day. Women and men hurry along at a brisk jogtrot to the market, following on each other’s heels, a single file. It is their heavy loads, the Toraja say, which force the pace. Women are clothed more or less alike with a sarong around the waist or higher up under the arms, worn together with a modern blouse or a more traditionally cut jacket, sometimes with very tight short sleeves. The large sunhat, so characteristic of Sa’dan-Toraja women (with the exception of women from the district of Mengkendek who wear a piece of folded black cloth on their heads) shades their heads. A basket rides each woman’s back, so heavily laden that the bearer must bend under the weight. To displace part of the burden onto the head, a strap is fastened to the basket and looped about the forehead. One woman, Without anything to carry, proceeds upright; without doubt she is from a good family. Men on their way to the market are less uniform in their attire. Some wear short trousers, some long — these have replaced the traditional loin cloth — and on their heads they have modern hats, some with a brim, some not. One or two individuals still have bound their hair with a band of bamboo. The kain remains in evidence, mostly worn over the shoulder or knotted around the waist. Men, too, bear heavy loads, a pig, perhaps, or a cluster of bananas which dangle from a stick over the shoulder.

However fond people are of talk at other times, and laughter, few sounds now pass their lips. The only thing that interests them at the moment is prices. “Pira? How much?” those who pass by on their way back from the market are asked. What is the trade like in commodities bought at the pasar? — commodities which those who pose the question may perhaps intend to buy or sell themselves. No one has an eye for the scenery. Neither for the green rice fields — only when the rice is almost ripe will the market-goer cast a curious eye over the crop — nor for the sawahs submerged under water where white herons wade.

Small dark green islands dot the watery plane composed of irrigated farmland. These are woods, mostly clumps of bamboo, their topmost leaves etched like ostrich feathers against the sky. They mark the boundaries of compounds. Not only bamboo but varieties of palms and fruit trees surround the dwellings which, somewhat scattered, stand hidden from the eye on the ‘green’ islands. Opposite every house there is at least one storage barn for rice. Houses and barns are of the same form. Both have saddle roofs with the extremities of the ridge turned upwards. Their appearance is reminiscent of proas with the rising curve of their prows. They recall the myth which tells how the ancestors of the Toraja reached their present homeland in ships.

Steep limestone formations tower up out of the flat sawahs. The rippled summits of these rocks stand out in silhouette. Wind and water have gouged out their irregular contours. Men have applied hands even to the stone. In walls which are often perpendicular, there are square niches hollowed out, sometimes as much as a hundred meters above ground. A small wooden door decorated with a stylized water buffalo head seals each limestone chamber. The dead repose behind these doors, far above the living. Lifelike wooden puppets, almost the size of a man or woman, images of the dead, preserve memory of those who have perished; they either stand on separate shelves hewn from the rock or else preside at the entrance to the graves themselves. With outstretched hands, palms skywards, they plead for a gift from the living, their descendants.

I.2 The land

Tana Toraja — the land of the Toraja — is at present the name given to the region inhabited by the Sa’dan-Toraja. It is situated in the northern part of the southwestern ‘arm’, the southwestern peninsula, of the irregularly shaped island of Sulawesi, the former Celebes, one of Indonesia’s big islands. The description of the landscape sketched above could apply to a vast portion of Tana Toraja with minor alterations; there are also, however, places such as Rembon, Nanggala and Mengkendek, without limestone outcrops. Some of the area is composed of calcareous formations and tuffs; the mountain Sesean (2,176 m), however, is built of basalt. The terrain is mountainous, a plateau, in fact, girdled with mountain ridges through which the upper reaches of the Sa’dan River courses at an altitude of approximately 800 meters. These waters flow down through two valleys: in the southern one lies the town of Makale, in the northern one that of Rantepao. Lesser branches of this river descend through smaller valleys. The mountain ranges, which are in part comprised of limestone ridges, attain heights of between 1,300-1,600 meters. Some summits, however, like that of Sesean, jut abruptly higher.

Given the rugged relief of the area, it is difficult to speak with any generality about climate in Tana Toraja; temperature fluctuates radically with altitude. Rains commence in November and last through January; a short, less intense rainy season spans the months of March and April. From May until the end of October it is dry. Yet, on occasion the rains may be early or late.

I.3 Present-day administration

Tana Toraja (sometimes shortened to ‘Tator’) is part of the Republic of Indonesia. As an administrative unit it is designated as a kabupaten (regency). The area lies between 2°40’ and 3°25’ south latitude and 119°30’ and 120°25’ east longitude. Its total area, roughly one tenth the size of The Netherlands, is 3,178 sq. km. The regency is subdivided into nine kecamatan (see Map 1). Each kecamatan is composed of still smaller administrative units, desa, villages or clusters of villages. Matters are further complicated by combining villages into territorial units which — again — are called lembang. These new lembang do not coincide with those of the Dutch colonial administration which had only about half as many of them; today’s administration includes 65 lembang.

During most of the period of Dutch rule Tana Toraja was a section of the subdivision of Luwu, a former kingdom. It became an administrative entity in its own right, Tana Toraja, for the first time shortly after World War II and has retained its name until today. When The Netherlands held power, there were 32 districts, or lembang, in Tana Toraja (see Map 2). The name lembang is

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Schaal 1 : 160.000; En }

9. Sangalla

Map 1 Makale-Rantepao and surroundings. Left on top: Tana Toraja, the new division in kecamatan (numbered).

I The Sa’dan-Toraja and their environment 5 CO et e Ì 7 ; i ~ re A ern, 1 Tren, i aa / ee P = R ee / A i soi Paid | s O ee i 6 $ ZN í OON ` / } wos S „ g j naad x 18 vas Fag \ or 741 SAnginangin / won enn i a “730% | se we 3 : 4 ed sae / ke : = ae vd ra 1 23 g mer NE ca ; 28 \ ) SS Ed = eee din -A = “Nd { < han N 5 i \ { d X ’ Í ~ \ ae Map 2 The division of Tana Toraja in districts coinciding with adat-communities (as introduced during the colonial period): 1. Kesu’ 12. Piongan 22. Ma’kale Tall 2. Tikala 13. Kurra’ 23. Sangalla’ je De 3. Buntao’ 14. Ulusalu 24. Mengkendek DANE 4. Rantebua’ 15. Seseng 25. Mappa’ 5. Tondon 16. Bittuang 26. Buakayu 6. Nanggala 17. Pali 27. Rano 7. Balusu 18. Ratte 28. Simbuang 8. Sa’dan | 19. Balepe’ 29. Bau 9, Pangala’ 20. Malimbong 30. Banga 10. Dende’ 21. Talion 31. Palesan 11, Madandan 32. Tapparan

Source: Seinstra 1940.

derived from the indigenous Toraja term for the territory of an adat-community; today the term is used also for an administrative unit, part of a district (kecamatan). The number of administrative districts remained constant after Indonesian independence. It was not until sometime in 1965 that they were fused together into a smaller number of kecamatan. Because the administrative districts introduced by the

Dutch coincided with the boundaries of traditional lembang (adat-communities), we shall adhere to the usage, common in all early ethnographic publications, and refer to these adat-communities as districts or territories (landschappen).

1.4. The name Sa’dan-Toraja; differentiation from neighbouring ethnicities

Toraja is a collective name for all people who inhabit the mountains of Southwest- and Central-Sulawesi. These mountain dwellers, however, exhibit differences among themselves in language and culture which formerly prompted sorting them into West-, South- and Eastor Central-Toraja. The name Toraja (without any prefix) is used by the Buginese and the Makassarese, and above all by the inhabitants of Luwu’, to denote the Sa’dan-Toraja. According to Adriani (see N. Adriani and A. C. Kruyt, De Bare’e sprekende Toradja, III, 1914: 1-2; see also Adriani 1930), the name comes from the Buginese To-ri-aja, The People of the Interior, The People of the Highlands (to means man or people; it is a contraction of tau which has the same denotation).

In recent times several Toraja have chosen for the following interpretation: Toraja derives from Buginese Torajang, The People from the West (rajang denotes west in Buginese, not, however, in the language of the Toraja). The People of the West are seen in opposition to The People of the East, the residents of Luwu’ (Tangdilintin 1975: 2). The Toraja themselves consider explication of their name in terms of their coming from the interior or the highlands as denigrating. Yet another clarification of their name has been advanced by the Toraja instead: to, or people; raja, or grand, magnificent. A more or less free translation of Toraja would thus yield: People of high status, people whom others esteem, whom others deem worthy. In a similar vein it has been suggested that Toraja signifies a people of raja, a princely people. Linguists also employ the word South- (a geographic distinction) or Tae’-Toraja (after the word for negation in the language). Such terminology actually embraces a larger group than merely the Sa’dan-Toraja; it includes, for example, also the Mamasa-Toraja and the Duri who live, respectively, to the west and south of the Sa’dan-Toraja. Thus, by a linguistic route, we have arrived at the knotty problem of differentiating the Sa’dan-Toraja from their neighbours.

For a first point of reference we shall cling (at least temporarily)

to the name Sa’dan-Toraja, derived from the Sa’dan River. These people live, principally, in present-day Tana Toraja. A considerable number of Toraja have settled in Ujung Pandang, capital of the province of South-Sulawesi, and in the bordering kabupaten of Luwu’ and Bone. These migrants, the total estimated at between sixty and a hundred thousand, make up a sizable fraction of the total number of Toraja, the population of Tana Toraja amounting to 310,000 in 1975 (see Annex Ib at the end of this chapter). Since taking up new homes they have practically all converted to Christianity and consequently do not figure further in this narrative. Similarly beyond consideration fall the old settlements of the Sa’dan-Toraja in Luwu’, and the communities of the Jenemaeja River, a group closely related to the Sa’dan, in the territory of Pantilang, along the upper waters of the Bajo River which traverses this former kingdom. Because. these communities (Pantilang among others) fell under the administration of the sanggaria of Bajo, one of the ‘governors’ of the Prince of Luwu’ (cf. Pronk 1938), their culture acquired a somewhat different structure. My research, moreover, did not take me to their home area; they receive, consequently, relatively minor attention in this study.

The Mamasa, a tributary of the Sa’dan, has bestowed its name on the Mamasa-Toraja, a people so closely related to the Sa’dan-Toraja that one can almost always consider them as a single group.’ Yet, the Mamasa-Toraja have not been drawn into this study, nor have the Duri, also near relations, who live to the south of the Sa’dan-Toraja and who are regarded as Islamized Toraja. Despite the fact that the Duri reside also on the lower part of the upper course of the Sa’dan River, I only allude to them in passing.

This monograph is confined thus to the group which lives within the present boundaries of Tana Toraja. The Sa’dan River, which flows through a major portion of this area, has given its name to these Toraja which distinguishes them from other ethnic groups also called Toraja.‘ |

Tracing dividing lines is always a matter of controversy. Thus the inhabitants of what was formerly Simbuang district in the south-west of Tana Toraja are residents of this kabupaten, but their language and customs ally them more closely to the Mamasa-Toraja and to the Toraja who live in the territory of Tandalangan on the right bank of the Masuppu’ River, a side stream of the Sa’dan (see Van der Veen 1965: 56, note 259). The claim that the Sa’dan-Toraja are a separate ethnicity can be disputed, as far as the inhabitants of the former Simbuang district are concerned; they certainly straddle the border. Yet elsewhere, too, myths, language and customs exhibit local differences. Three territories situated to the south of Tana Toraja, Ma’kale, Mengkendek and Sangalla’, are small realms presided over by a prince (puang). Their political structure is remarkably similar to the forms of administration existing among the Duri. The resemblance of these regions, moreover, to the former princedom of Luwu’ is striking, just as it is to the realms which lie within the cultural domain of the Buginese and Makassarese. As for their oral literature and their genealogies, the three Toraja princedoms display many points of congruence, not only with those of the Luwu’ princedom but with those of the Makassarese realm of Goa and the Buginese princedoms as well.

After setting so many Toraja groups asunder, I find myself wondering if unity among them ever existed. Today, unity is merely a matter of language and cultural practices (not forgetting, however, that local variations exist). Yet, Toraja mythic history has one tale which tells of closing ranks to face an invading enemy.

1.5 Toraja history, a résumé Although Toraja myths record many details about the coming into being of the Toraja “world’, they incorporate an outlook upon the past far different from that of modern historiography. Historical facts do crop up, but they are incorporated into subjective vision. The invasion of Toraja territory in the seventeenth century by the Bonese Prince Arung Palaka (Aru Palakka) is recorded, for example, but the Toraja view of events is distinct from the Buginese view. The Toraja maintain they defeated the warring prince; according to Buginese accounts the latter succeeded in the 17th century in appropriating a large share of what today is Tana Toraja.” ‘Facts and fancies’ so intertwine that it is impossible to verify objective truth. A fact of signal importance is that according to their tradition, the Toraja joined forces in the 17th century to resist, as one, the Buginese onslaught. They entered into alliance called Basse Lepongan Bulan, ‘Agreement (concerning the region) Round as the Moon’. The region so designated took in almost all of what is at present Tana Toraja. The Toraja look back upon their resistance against the Buginese as an exceptionally significant historical event.