Ma'nene' Ritual" Ethnographic Study of Ma'nene' Ritual Practices in Toraja

This research aims to examine the Ma'nene' Ritual Practice in Toraja. This study uses a qualitative method. This research is focused on describing an ethnographic study of the Ma'nene' ritual practice which can be seen from the lives of the Toraja people regarding symbols. The research results show that the existing symbols always have a clear meaning for the Toraja people. Ma'nene' is seen as local wisdom and a culture that is attractive to both the Toraja tribe itself and even people outside Toraja. The Ma'nene' ritual cannot be separated from religious and even social values, so that some of the meanings that must be understood from this article are what people meant by Ma'nene' in the past, namely; (1) Untundan mali'; (2) Unggassa'i pa'kaboro'; (3) Umpamarra' paumpuran; (4) Sometimes old'


Introduction
Humans have always wondered about the meaning of life, the nature of the universe, and the forces that shape this life.Although it is impossible to analyze with certainty but there are some clues to how people who lived hundreds of years ago could have answered these kinds of questions.Hundreds of years ago, Toraja people buried their dead with what they believed to be a ritual, a ritual that showed they were preparing the dead for the afterlife, or the world beyond this world.Tana Toraja, which is located 310 kilometers to the north of South Sulawesi Province, can be reached by car in eight hours from the city of Makassar (Bigalke, 2005).Tana Toraja is located in a mountainous area which makes it difficult to reach.History records that the period of Dutch colonial rule as a trading area for the Vereenidge Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) began in 1699 (17th century) in South Sulawesi, but they only succeeded in reaching Tana Toraja in 1905.According to Sapril (n.d) the situation was difficult to reach.This makes the Toraja people isolated and perhaps this is one of the reasons they still exist with their cultural traditions and beliefs from generation to generation.In understanding the social reality that exists in a society, of course we will be faced with questions about the culture that underlies that society.Anthropologists have proven that humans everywhere always adhere to religion (Pongsibanne, 2017).It is in this relationship that humans are called religious creatures.Religion can color all aspects of human life, for example it can be seen in the implementation of traditional funeral ceremonies among various ethnic groups (Akhmad, 2020;Idrus, 2014).This form of funeral ceremony is considered a tradition or a kind of custom in the life of an ethnic group which is passed down from one generation to the next (Patora, 2021).So in this relationship it can be said that tradition is born from religion.Changes in this era can occur because of the development of human thinking as a result of developments in science which causes human thought patterns to become more rational (Karim, 2014).Another cause of this change is the influence of religious teachings which can occur due to the presence of a new religion in a society, so that many members of that society "move" to embrace the new religion.The Toraja tribe is one of the ethnic groups in Indonesia that carries out funeral ceremonies which are very popular so that tourists come to Tana Toraja to see the funeral ceremonies themselves (Rismayanti & Nusarastriya, 2020).This is because the Indonesian government is marketing Tana Toraja internationally with the aim of increasing state foreign exchange and regional income.The Indonesian government has designated Tana Toraja as the second tourist destination after the island of Bali.
https://jazindia.comAvailable online at: -405 -This article specifically analyzes traditional funeral ceremonies among the Toraja tribe by comparing the implementation of funeral ceremonies carried out in the past which were considered still normative with funerals carried out in the late 90s.By comparing the implementation of the two ceremonies, it is hoped that it will be possible to see whether there has been a change in the implementation of the ceremony or not.In religious ceremonies, according to Durkheim, something that seems to truly be a characteristic of religious beliefs and rituals is: the concept of the sacred.Because if you pay close attention, indeed in the lives of religious people, they divide two worlds separately, namely the sacred part of the world and the profane part of the world.Sacred things are always considered superior, very powerful, forbidden from normal relationships and deserving of high respect and conversely profane things are ordinary, uninteresting and are practical habits of everyday life.In religion, what is prioritized is sacred things.Therefore, it is understandable that Durkheim formulated the definition of religion as follows: "Religion is an integrated system of beliefs and practices related to sacred things, namely things that are separate and forbidden; these practices united into a moral community called the church; all those who adhere to that practice".
In the Totem religion as researched by Durkheim among indigenous tribes in Australia, it is the people who are respected.This means that there is something that is an integral part of society that contains everything that can evoke the feeling "that it is God."Thus, religion is felt to be very important in human life as a unit of society because religion itself is part of society.Durkheim argued that religion in the life of a society functions to defend, maintain, and create a kind of atmosphere of unity, unity and identity of a particular society.In society, identity is seen in, and comes from, the use of symbols.In this connection, it is important to remember that the mana or function of the symbols cannot change even if the symbol does.the symbol itself changes.Or in short it can be said that: symbols can change, but their function remains unchanged.Words, symbols, religious practices and religious ceremonies (rites) may change, but their function remains.
Therefore, for Durkheim, what is real is society, social life and social facts.Meanwhile, religion and rites can change according to their function in real society.So even if there is a change in the rites or the sacred symbols lose their sacredness, then that is not a problem/nothing, because the important thing is that religion remains functional.This is different from Eliade's opinion, who sees religion as something sui generis, unique, because it originates from outside humans and society.Therefore, the function of religion for society is based on sacred reality.This means that what is sacred is what is real and not part of humans/society but is outside humans.Therefore the sacred cannot change (Eliade, 1959).From the nature that humans are aware of, humans look for their basis in the sacred, namely God who is in the world "over there".
In Toraja society, belief systems such as the sacredness of ancestors (animism) and certain objects (dynamism) are known to have existed long before foreign religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism and Confucianism entered and developed.In its later development, the local belief system was assimilated by various incoming religions.In that sense, religions that entered Toraja were not immediately rejected or accepted outright, but these religions blended with the belief system of Toraja society, this is because Toraja society also has a syncretic nature and a belief system that adheres to the same ancestral religion.understand also the esoteric-mystical emphasis.
The Toraja people adhere to a belief which they call Aluk Todolo (Ancestral Religion).The Aluk Todolo belief is a sacrificial religion because in all its religious ritual activities the blood of sacrificial animals, namely chickens, pigs and buffalo, is generally shed.All behavior and social patterns are regulated by custom.Marriages are also regulated by custom and not by aluk (religious ritual).There are no religious officials involved in the marriage, but those involved are traditional holders.The general cultural characteristics of Torajan society are as follows: 1) agricultural society, 2) society with a high work ethic, 3) society that places great importance on integrity, 4) home society, 5) ceremonial society, 6) hierarchical society.They group themselves with symbols in the form of names (sanga), food (kande), tongkonan, carvings (passura'), traditional ceremonies and aluk rituals, regional genealogy (bate manurung), etc.
In the hilly areas of the Toraja tribe, there are still many ancient graves where the dead are placed in stone burrows which logically do not rot quickly like burials in the ground.The Torajan people hold the Ma'nene' ritual, which is a funeral ceremony to commemorate ancestors with the process of renewing the clothes of the deceased for the deceased ancestors.The name of the Torajan people at this event to commemorate their ancestors is Ma'nene' or Ma'putu' in Indonesian meaning "wrapping back".This culture is one of the legacies of their ancestors that they must preserve.The Ma'nene' culture is regularly held by the Toraja people with symbols that convey a deep message or meaning which of course was inherited by their ancestors.The Ma'nene'e ceremony is a ceremony to change the clothes Available online at: https://jazindia.com-406 -of the bodies of ancestors.During Ma'nene', the coffins of the ancestors, were removed from the graves and stone burrows, then placed in the ceremony site.At the same time, relatives and friends were waiting and gathered.Then carefully, representatives of the family took the body out of the coffin and then they put on clothes which is in the form of a new cloth placed on the body of the corpse.The Ma'nene' ritual carried out by the Torajan people is considered a form of their love for ancestors, figures and relatives who have died.They still hope that the spirits of their ancestors will protect them from all evil disturbances, plant pests and also the misfortunes of life.
Torajan people who believe in spiritualism and who are steeped in the spirituality of their ancestral religion generally have a more general sounding name as the 'Aluk Todolo' people.As local beliefs are dressed in the name of Toraja customs and culture with a combination of Christianization.This combination is learning to understand and appreciate the ancestral religion of the Toraja people, so that differences in ritual expressions, procedures and speech are not something that the Toraja people find too interesting to debate, let alone use as a distinction and divider between them.This emphasis on the same things regarding internal and essential understanding, and the exclusion of external things, is a strong characteristic of Toraja society.
From the results of observations made by researchers that the meaning of the Aluk Todolo belief (ancestral religion) in the Ma'nene Ritual is the idea of supernatural existence which is part of Toraja culture, understanding this belief is important for researchers because it has the challenge of defining the topic itself.The word "religion", which is commonly used in Indonesia to refer to participation in different forms of belief such as Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, is not a universally recognized idea.Many cultures have no word for "religion" at all and many societies do not make a clear distinction between beliefs or practices that are "religious" or "spiritual" and other customs that are an ordinary part of everyday life

Methods
The research "Ethnographic Study of Ma'nene' Ritual Practices in Toraja" uses qualitative methods.Qualitative methods refer to research strategies and in-depth interviews to obtain the desired data.Qualitative research is a multiple method in focus, which involves an interpretive and reasonable approach to each subject matter.This research is focused on describing an ethnographic study of the Ma'nene' ritual practice which can be seen from the lives of the Toraja people regarding symbols.The research was carried out around August 2022 to August 2023.The research focus locations were Tana Toraja and Rantepao, Baruppu Selatan District, Rindingallo, Ponglamba.Data collection methods use Participatory Observation, Interviews and Documentation.In this research, the analysis technique used is Durkheim's approach by looking at facts about sacred and profane.

Symbolic Interpretation of the Ma'nene' Ritual
After conducting interviews with several sources, the researcher found several facts in the field which will then become an objective picture of the symbols contained in the implementation of the Ma'nene' ritual.These symbols include: cloth, clothes, animals such as pigs and buffalo, rice, cigarettes, mats, betel leaves, whiting and areca nut.Cloth is one of the most important components in the Ma'nene' ritual.The function of the cloth is to wrap or re-cover the corpse's body without reopening the cloth that was previously wrapped around the ancestor's body.For the Baruppu people, they do not question the type and color of the cloth used, the most important thing is that the cloth can be used to wrap the body of a corpse.In fact, cloth is not https://jazindia.comAvailable online at: -407 -understood only as wrapping, but the people of South Baruppu, Ponglamba Village interpret cloth more deeply, namely as a form of gratitude and appreciation for every kindness of their ancestors for the entire family.This expression gives rise to the action of re-binding the corpses of ancestors.The community interprets the wrapping of cloth around the body of a corpse as their way of caring for and respecting the bodies of their ancestors.People also think that families feel sorry for them and even cry when they see the bodies of their ancestors scattered around.With cloth, the corpse can be wrapped so that the bones are not scattered in the grave.The purpose of using mats in the implementation of the Ma'nene' ritual is as a mat for drying the corpse when it has been removed from the grave.Apart from that, the mat also functions as a sitting mat for families or people who come to the cemetery to take part in the Ma'nene' ritual.If you look at the habits of the Toraja people, mats are generally used as a form of appreciation for guests who come to visit.So it can be said that mats are not only understood as functional objects as a base, but the use of mats indicates appreciation, respect and even respect for the ancestors.In the community's view, the function of the mat is as a base so that the corpse that is taken out of the grave is not dirty, but more than that, the community interprets the use of the mat as a form of care and respect for their ancestors because they feel they cannot bear to see the bodies of their ancestors lying just like that.underground without any mat or base.

Mat
Areca Nut and Cigarettes Figure 3. Areca nuts and cigarettes as a form of respect.
In general, in Toraja society, the use of Pinang or pangngan and cigarettes represents a form of respect and appreciation for guests who come during various rituals in Toraja, including the Ma'nene' ritual.In Toraja literary language it is said that bellanna tole' ia mo ada'na lembang, sorongan sepu' ia mo ada'na pangleon.In the Aluk Todolo celebration, the aim of the family is to come bringing areca nuts and cigarettes so that the ancestors will come to bring blessings to their living descendants.However, in the view of community members, they no longer bring betel nuts and cigarettes to graves to give to their ancestors, but only provide them to give to people who can carry out the Ma'nene' ritual.People in Baruppu think that areca nut and cigarettes are just wasteful because their ancestors no longer enjoyed Available online at: https://jazindia.com-408 -them.The South Baruppu community, Ponglamba, said that areca nut and cigarettes are only interpreted as a form of appreciation for guests who come to carry out the Ma'nene' ritual.

Food
In ancient times, when Ma'nene' was still carried out based on Aluk Todolo's procedures, when the month of August entered the Baruppu' people no longer ate rice.There are two types of food that are distinguished in the Baruppu' area, namely kande bombo (spirit food) and kande deata (god food).Kande deata is rice while kande bombo is sweet potato, banana and others.The food that will be consumed during the Ma'nene' ritual must not be cooked at home but must be cooked around the grave because there is an element of pamali.The food that can be eaten during the Ma'nene' ritual is kande bombo, such as sweet potatoes and bananas because the people involved in the Ma'nene' ritual are in an atmosphere where the social transaction is with a corpse or bombo.The reason kande deata is not eaten is because it is a special food given to the gods to taste.However, in the context of understanding and implementing Ma'nene' in the South Baruppu community, Ponglamba is no longer a special food.In the Aluk Todolo tradition, food is provided as an offering to the gods and spirits.However, nowadays it is no longer understood like that, basically food still exists but is solely intended for consumption by families and village communities.

Buffalo and Pig
In fact, the use of buffalo in the Ma'nene' ritual is not used carelessly, but only applies to people who during the funeral procession (Rambu Solo') are carried out according to the procedures of a high social strata.However, currently the buffalo that is slaughtered during the Ma'nene' ritual depends on the wishes and capabilities of the family.The buffalo is used if the family is carrying out the Ma'nene' ritual for the first time, the family is able to slaughter the buffalo and the buffalo is used as a symbol to escape from the marriage bond of husband and wife.
In carrying out the Ma'nene' ritual, there is a desire from the family to slaughter buffalo because during the funeral procession for their ancestors they were not financially sufficient so the number of buffalo slaughtered was not as desired.Therefore, when they have enough financially, they can sacrifice a buffalo to their ancestors.The community understands that this method is a form of expression of the family's love for their ancestors, where there is a longing to provide the best for their ancestors.In the Aluk Todolo tradition, the use of buffalo is interpreted as a form of offering to the ancestors and the aim is that the animal can deliver the spirits of the ancestors to the puya and then the ancestors give blessings to their families.The meaning of Aluk Todolo is no longer lived up to today, its meaning has shifted.Buffaloes and pigs are only sacrificed to be eaten by the people who come to participate in the Ma'nene' ritual and distributed to the village community.

Conclusion
The Ma'nene' ritual cannot be separated from various symbols.So that the existing symbols always have a clear meaning for the Toraja people.Ma'nene' is seen as local wisdom and a culture that is attractive to both the Toraja tribe itself and even people outside Toraja.The Ma'nene' ritual cannot be separated from religious and even social values, so that some of the meanings that must be understood from this article are what people meant by Ma'nene' in the past, namely; (1) Untundan mali'; (2) Unggassa'i pa'kaboro'; (3) Umpamarra' paumpuran; (4) Sometimes old'; (5) Umpaundi polean.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Cloth for wrapping or re-lining the body of a corpse.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Mat as a base for drying corpses.