Christian Mausoleum

Tikala Village, Tana Toraja

Christian and animist traditional elements mix freely here; the site is an exemplar of the modern Torajan cultural synthesis. The Christian mausoleum, with its modern hyper-realistic effigy (previous page), is associated with a traditional standing monolith (next page), photo right, and a traditional boat-shaped bier, photo left. In Torajan funerals, the wooden bier, upon which the corpse is carried to its final resting place, is kept at that place of final interment until it eventually disintegrates to become one with the elements.