Ma’Bugi: Trance of the Toraja

Year Published: 1973

Complete Record: Shows selected highlights of the Ma'bugi dance and ritual in a village in Central Celebes. The Toraja ritual is a rite of invigoration and renewal. This film was taken in October 1971 in the Rantekasimpo village of the Makale district, a region renowned for its spectacular elaborations of Ma'bugi ritual. Shows selected highlights of the Ma'bugi dance and ritual in a village in Central Celebes. The Toraja ritual is a rite of invigoration and renewal. This film was taken in October 1971 in the Rantekasimpo village of the Makale district, a region renowned for its spectacular elaborations of Ma'bugi ritual. Depicts an unusual trance ritual that functions to restore the balance of well-being to an afflicted village community, and clearly portrays the song, dance, and pulsating tension that precede spirit possession in the Toraja highlands of Sulawesi (Celebes) Island, Indonesia. Designed to augment the growing body of documentation of ritually sanctioned altered states of consciousness, the film communicates both the psychological abandon of the trance state and the often neglected motivation underlying activities such as the ascent of a ladder of knives and the supernatural curing of the chronically ill. Directed by Eric Crystal and Lee Rhoades.