According to thesun, There are around one million Torajan individuals, most of whom live in the South Sulawesi region, who believe that after death the soul remains in the house so the dead are treated to feed them food, clothing, water, cigarettes.

In a mountainous area of Indonesia, the Toraja people mummify the bodies of the deceased and care for their preserved bodies as though they are still living.

It has the makings of a sweet family mantelpiece portrait however, one of the girls is dead.



Their skin and flesh are preserved from decaying and rotting – which begins within days of death – by a coating of a chemical solution called formalin, which is a mixture of formaldehyde and water.

The stench is strong, so the family will store lots of dried plants beside the body to mask the odour.



For the community, a well-preserved body brings good fortune so family go to great lengths to ensure those who have died remain in the best possible shape.

They are then kept wrapped up in blankets in a bed in a room of the house or in in wealthier homes, they’ll rest in a tongkonan – a traditional Torajan ‘ancestral’ house with a distinctive boat-shaped roof so the rain water runs off.



Source - TheSun