Sulawesi Surprise!: Pigs Out!

If you think the three little pigs in James Orchard Halliwell-Phillips's Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Tales are a bit too many, wait till you walk the market in Tana Toraja. In one section of the market,there are so many pigs there that you would be forgiven for not wanting to have anything else to do with pigs after that - not to mention not wanting to eat them too! Besides water buffaloes, pigs are slaughtered during the elaborate death ritual. A machete would be used and I suppose there would be much blood and gore. Tourists can witness the ceremony at a ceremonial site, called rante, which is a large, grassy field with shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures. As it is the funeral ritual is rather expensive. It is a big event attended by thousands of people and could last for a few days. We were at Tana Toraja a few weeks too early, I think and missed this ritual. With the expected blood and gore, I think many of us would not mind missing it. Forget the dancing and music that would be there too...Just walk the market at Tana Toraja and contemplate the fate of the pigs there...

Can you spot the three little pigs or perhaps, The Big Bad Wolf?

Traveling Tip: Contemplate!