Funerary figure (tau-tau)

The traditional belief system of the Toraja people is "the ways of the ancestors." They honor their high-ranking dead with spectacular funerals, which may occur months, years, even decades after death. Viewing stands are built for the many guests. There are processions, dances, chants, and the parading of water buffalo and pigs that will be sacrificed to feed the visitors.

The most distinctive work of art made for a Toraja funeral is a sculptural image of the deceased—the tau tau, literally "little person," but also "the shadow of the soul" or "the soul that is seen." After the funeral, this sculpture in wood, dressed in clothing of the time, is often placed in a balcony chiseled from the face of a steep limestone cliff. From this "house from which no smoke rises," the tau tau looks down upon the world of the living, a reminder of the relationship between ancestors and their descendants.