Tautau and Tongkonan Traditional House of South Sulawesi

The word tau-tau means 'little person', or, also, 'like a person'. Spoken rapidly the words sound liketatau. The tau-tau is the image of the deceased, dressed in clothing, complete with accessories and jewellery. The effigy is more than a memorial statue as we know it, for it is thought to have a soul, the soul of the deceased.

 A specialist (pande tau-tau) fashions the effigy out of nangka-wood. Certain individuals have won fame in the making of these dolls; the carving supplies them with supplementary income. Well-known pande are Teken in Kesu' and Pong Salapu in Sangalla'. Today, resemblance to the deceased is the specialist's goal. Nowadays, since some tau-taucraftsmen, Teken, or Olle, have had training in sculpture on Bali, increasing verisimilitude is being achieved but, it seems to me, at the cost of something of the fascination and mystery characteristic of early death dolls.

Manufacture of the tau-tau is accompanied by offerings. Tau-tau have the genitals of whichever sex which they represent. The dolls have movable limbs so that, for example, even the forearm and upperarm can be detached from each other. The head, too, can be removed. Old effigies found in the vicinity of ancient coffins, do not have movable limbs.

this is one of the indigenous peoples amazing product in Indonesia. Tongkonan is a typical house in the Tana Toraja in South Sulawesi. Until now, the unique home with Tana Toraja culture more into a tourist attraction and continuous demand travelers.

Tongkonan is a traditional house with characteristic wooden houses on stilts under the house where the pit is usually used as a cowshed. The roof houses tongkonan black coated fibers and the curved shape just like a boat with a stern face down. Others say shaped like buffalo horns. Overview of similar buildings house just in Minang or Batak