Myths and Ideology in Customary Ritual of Ma’tammu Tedong for Life of Toraja People

Customary ritual of rambu solo’ in Toraja is based on noble values
of culture that influences life pattern of Toraja people. Current
development has changed the way of life and thinking of Toraja
people to customary ceremony. Basic understanding is needed in
interpreting the ceremonies. This paper discusses the meaning of
ritual text myth that is represented by buffalo meeting. Participant
observation methods used with field notes, recording, and
interview techniques completed the data collection. The data were
analyzed interpretatively by semiotic approach. The ritual text of
the buffalo meeting ceremony in rambu solo’ ceremony is a
symbolic form, parallelism, and metaphor which also constructs
the meaning of customary ritual myth. Through the ritual remarks
on the seven types of buffalo in the ceremony of rambu solo’
indicating views, concepts, and motivations are used as guidelines
for life for Toraja people. The result of the research shows that, (1)
the customary ritual text of buffalo meeting is symbolic,
parallelism, and metaphor characteristics that represent myth
meaning, (2) customary ritual text of buffalo meeting is to
construct myth and ideology about Toraja character value. The
value of the characters is represented by the seven types of buffalo
in the customary ritual ma'tammu tedong namely, (a) balian
buffalo represented as a leader figure or role model; (b) bonga
buffalo as torch in human life of Toraja; (c) pudu’ buffalo as
guardians in maintaining the life of the Toraja; (d) todi’ buffalo as
a unifier that strengthens kinship ties; (e) sokko’ buffalo describes
a polite and humble person; (f) tekken langi’ buffalo as a
safeguard that reconciles the Toraja over the conflict; (g) sambao’
buffalo as customary guardians for customary offenses. Those
values indicate the existence of the relation between man and
Almighty and man with others. Also, they strengthen the character
of human life of the Toraja and nation character.