Episode 18: Dark Tourism Explores Toraja’s Ceremony of Cleaning Corpses

Ii-wey! In the aftermath of San Diego Comic-Con International, I was catching up on the new programming on Netflix and came across Dark Tourist which premiered on July 20. The documentary, hosted by New Zealand journalist David Farrier, explores a global phenomenon in which tourists seek out places made famous by death and destruction: Chernobyl, Rwandan Genocide Memorial, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, and Auschwitz Birkenau, just to name a few. Throughout the eight episodes, Farrier examines the attraction to the macabre, the morbid, and often dangerous – is it for the adrenaline rush? Or, to put into perspective life and death?

In episode six, Farrier visits Toraja, Indonesia, a remote rainforest location. Here, he meets Yusef, a man that passed away two years ago. The journalist leaves cigarettes and food items to honor Yusef. Wrapped in several layers of clothing and material, the body has been embalmed in tree sap. While not a natural occurring mummy, the result of the embalming and wrapping, a corpse that is reminiscent of mummies comes to mind. After freshening up Yusef, he is rewrapped and prepared for burial at the ancestral tombs. 

Farrier and the village journey to the tombs and in a voice over, he explains that the Torajan have a ritual, Ma’nene, or The Ceremony of Cleaning Corpses. He watches as a family brings out Grandma from her resting place, so that her mummified body can be cleaned, redressed and rewrapped. During the ritual, selfies are taken with cellular phones (a comment is made about tradition and technology colliding) and money is tucked in the folded arms of the departed woman. The ritual is performed each year and it is an opportunity for families to “show their love and respect” through a “tender process”. 

Through his experience, Farrier reconciles the experience – he admits he has never seen a dead body before – by acknowledging that for the Torajans, death is in the open. Additionally, death is not a sudden occurrence or an abrupt end. Rather, it is a gradual transition to an afterlife marked by the dying breath of the first sacrificial buffalo. Farrier realizes just how “sanitized his urban life is” and how Westerners are distanced from the concept of death. Because of this separation, Farrier notes that we fear death. He questions himself and the audience as to whether dark tourism is not so much an opportunity to flirt with danger as it is, in this instance, to challenge our fears of death? 

Farrier’s reflections are a reminder of observations that have been made about ancient cultures that focused on death, for example the ancient Egyptians, the Chinchorro, the mummies of Guanajuato or incorrupt saints and religiously significant individuals in which their bodies have mummified in a natural process. With the contemporary Torajans, they are able to express their beliefs: they take care of their departed ancestors and help them continue their life journey, that leads to an afterlife. Their custom may serve as a reminder of the importance of the present and appreciating our life each day. This is the sentiment that Farrier embraces by the end of the segment.  

Senebti! 

Banner image from Claudio Sieber Photography website.