toraja death

In Indonesia, people who "live [in order] to die"

The last king of Toraja was 93 when he took his final breath in July 2003. Five years later, he's still part of the family, quietly residing in a small room in his former palace, shaded by two red parasols decorated with colored beads and gold fringe. By Torajan tradition, he isn't really dead. He's just sick. The late monarch won't be gone for good until he has been laid to rest with traditional rites featuring the slaughter of scores of water buffaloes, at least one of them a rate spotted specimen.

Such is the tradition of death in southern Sulawesi island, where people have to set aside huge chunks of income just to bury their family members properly. Nothing gets celebrated among the Torajans quite as extravagantly as death. Los Angeles Times