Abstract
Aluk Todolo is the ancestral religion of the Toraja ethnic, which developed from a belief that the Toraja people came from Heaven. Its concepts and teachings are not just in the understanding of epistemology but have become a mindset, behavior, and relationship with others, nature, and the Creator affecting society today. Those concepts are the life’s pattern for the Toraja people to worship the ancestral spirits, which Puang Matua (God the Highest) instructed. This understanding inherits knowledge and instructions for the Toraja people to carry out ceremonies in worshiping Puang Matua and ancestral spirits as the contents of dogma in the rites and rituals of Aluk Todolo. This research answers the journey of Puang Matua’s wisdom as a local religion to become a universal guideline for the Toraja people in maintaining harmony, balance, conformity, and peace between the cosmos and society. The systematics of this research is the construction of Puang Matua in the Aluk Todolo religion; secondly, the implementation of Puang Matua’s dogmatics in religious ceremonies, and third, how the movement of Puang Matua’s Wisdom journey sustains and impacts the rest to the movement. All resources in this research are based on primary sources: books, journal articles, academic writings, and old manuscripts. The problem statement of this research is discussed with the critical thinking method and qualitative approach. All the data from the primary resources are evaluated through critical analysis before they are displayed systematically. Finally, the data analysis leads to a conclusion and answers the research question.
Presenters
Halim WiryadinataLecturer, Theology, Universitas Kristen Indonesia, Jakarta Raya, Indonesia
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2024 Special Focus—Spaces, Movement, Time: Religions at Rest and in Movement
KEYWORDS
Aluk Todolo, Puang Matua, Puang Matua's Wisdom, Ethic Religion
