Toraja Rock-Tomb with Tau-Tau Effigy and Carved Water Buffalo - Sulawesi Island, Indonesia.

Toraja effigies representing the deceased are called "Tau-tau".

The effigies are life-size wooden sculptures with large open spooky eyes, and they are generally placed on a balcony above a rock tomb. They are like dead persons looking day and night at the living people.

At the feet of the water buffalo, also carved in the rock, you can see things that the deceased liked, including two fat pigs, a barrel of local alcohol, a cooking pot, two dogs, and also two cats on the horns of the buffalo!

See more info and photos of Toraja burial sites in the Toraja burial sites photo album.

See more information about the Toraja People in the Tana Toraja photo album.