***This video contains slightly terrifying footage. Viewer discretion required.***
The purpose of this video is to depict and document the way of life of people in the region in its pure form to the audience.
The most funeral in the world -- so expensive, in fact, that many families must keep the bodies at home to save up for it for years.
For the Torajans, a funeral is a status symbol. Also, they believe the more water buffaloes sacrificed, the faster the soul will get to heaven.
Let's learn more about them together.
By the way, I also got to use CHUBB's travel insurance this time. https://bit.ly/3TKsb5Y. Don't forget to get yourself a travel insurance when you make a trip. Enjoy an 18% discount on every international trip now until December 31, 2022.
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Description
The most expensive funeral in the world
People in many places across the world work and save up so they can get married, buy a car and a house, and maybe have a child. But not in Toraja. People here pour all the money they earn into the funerals for their loved one as the ceremony can cost up to THB 20 million.
"My grandpa has been at home for 5 years, waiting for a funeral. He's not dead yet. He's only considered a sick person. We truly live for death," said Natalia, smiling in front of the body of her grandpa, which has been in her home for 5 years.
"A funeral here costs at least THB 5 million and can cost over THB 20 million for richer people. Any family member about to get married has to postpone their wedding. And people about to marry into the family also have to think twice because they'll have to help work to pay for the funeral."
In the Torajan belief, until a funeral is held, a dead person is not considered dead but is considered a sick person that the children and grandchildren need to take care of by bringing food and water. Because a funeral is so expensive that they have to work to save enough money for it, many people keep the body of their loved one in their home for years.
"Grandpa, I''ll have to go now. I'll be back," she said before gingerly sliding the lid of the coffin back on, making sure to leave it slightly ajar, or else she might not be open it later.
I guess by having the body at home, everyone gets to really say goodbye, go through a healing process, and feel that death is not a sudden disappearance, but rather a gradual transition to the afterlife.
For this trip, we're going back to the beginning of the end. We'll visit Natalia's grandpa, who is "still alive" and then join a grand funeral, which is considered the pinnacle of a person's life.
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0:00 Intro
0:35 Significance of funerals for the Torajans
5:39 Torajan burial cave
11:42 Attending a funeral
21:10 Wrap-up