Summary

Doughty travels to Tana Toraja, Indonesia, with her friend Dr. Paul Koudounaris, a "scholar of the macabre" to witness the tradition death rituals of the Toraja ethnic group. Doughty and Koudounaris visit traditional burial caves where coffins sit next to rows of effigies and "skulled lined the crevices and natural ledges in the stone" (47). They then meet their local guide, Agus, who takes them to a local funeral. The body is transported in a parade to a central courtyard where several pigs and a buffalo await sacrifice. According to Torajan belief, a body after death is still alive but trapped in a "physical state [...] more like a high fever, an illness" (55). This illness lasts until the first animal is sacrificed and the individual can die alongside the animal. In Toraja, the period of time between death and the funeral is often long...