The Mummy Thief of Toraja

For tens of thousands of years, communities around the world have honored their dead and prepared them for the afterlife. From Egyptian mummies to Indonesian cliff burials, cultures around the world have engaged in community celebrations to acknowledge their continuing relationships with those who have passed on.

In Tana Toraja, a mountainous region in the northern part of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, the Torajan people lay their dead to rest in elaborate ceremonies that often last for many days. Dancing and the sacrificing of animals precede the burials, which take place high above the villages in coffins placed within tombs which are chiseled out of steep cliffs.

Yet, all this respect for the dead disappears with the frequency of mummy theft in Toraja. Ironically, Rambu Solo, an expensive funeral rite, held for ancestors regardless of the expense, has become an absurdity where people desecrate their ancestors’ burial grounds. This is because the descendants are now in great poverty due to this expensive funeral rite.

This surprising documentary features a villager who turns into a mummy thief when he becomes trapped in the vicious cycle of debts after his family throws an expensive funeral for an ancestor.

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