Villages can swell to many times their normal populations as families stage enormous
     funerals, often yuears after the loved one has passed away. In the invariably muddy fields
     and pathways hundreds of chickens and pigs are summarily dispatched, while buffalo are
     slaughtered with great ceremony, young boys jostling to catch spurting blood in long
     bamboo tubes. Events range from quiet prayers and solemn processions to stirring hymn
     singing and exiting battles between water buffalo, all conducted in a festival atmosphere of
     clan solidarity and reunion.

     For visitors, this is a magnificent show, as the ever hospitable Toraja will make arrangements
     to accommodate everyone who attends the ceremonies. Even a young backpacker
     stumbling into a Torajan funeral is offered a space in the temporary shelters erected for the
     occasion. The shelter set aside for tourists is generally in a good location, behind the closest
     relatives and community leaders, of course, but often far closer to the action than shelters
     reserved for distant or impoverished relations. A well-behaved foreigner is considered an
     honored guest,  whose arrival from a far adds cosmopolitan element to the festival occasion.