The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region called Tana Toraja in South Sulawesi island, Indonesia. Among several distinctive features of Toraja culture, funerals are the most expensive and elaborate events. The extent of Toraja graves depends upon the wealth of the dead. That is, if the dead people are wealthy, they are often buried in a rock-carved grave on a cliff which is expensive and takes a few months to complete. Toraja people also place wooded human shaped figures called Tau Tau in a cave on the rock that faces the land.
There are three kinds of Toraja graves: the coffin may be placed in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. Due to their belief in the afterlife, Toraja people also put the possession of the deceased into the grave. However, if the deceased is a baby who has not begun to teeth yet, the coffin is usually hung from ropes on a cliff or from a tree. The coffin usually hangs there for years, until the ropes rot and it falls to the ground.
