Ceremony, Tongkonan and the Memories of Toraja People (Consecration Ceremony for Traditional House in Toraja, South Sulawesi)

Abstract

Tongkonan, aside from being home for Toraja people and as an identity marker, is also functioned as a center of daily activities for Toraja people. Tongkonan could not run its function without having a consecration ceremony called Mangrara Banua. Mangrara Banua is a traditional ceremony held for the recently finished Tongkonan or the rennovated one. Ethnographically, Mangrara Banua is not only seen as a ceremony for celebrating the newly built Tongkonan, more than that, Mangrara Banua occurs to recall the memories of Toraja people about their exsistence as an indigenous people, through the spoken narratives in the ceremony.