A valuable albino buffalo near Rantepao
Family
affiliation
Family is the primary social and
political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is
the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has
a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain
village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is
a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close
cousins (up to and including the third cousin)—except for nobles, to prevent
the dispersal of property.]Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning
that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay
off debts.
Each person belongs to both
the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in
Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both
mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are
given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives.
Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of
mothers, fathers and siblings.
Before the start of the
formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was
autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not
handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes,
villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was
expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan),
practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual
occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between
families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who
poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and
prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes
should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.
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