| Abstract: | Ma'pakorong is a Toraja ritual performed in honour of the goddess of pox, Puang Ruru‘. She is invited into the village to be entertained with music, cockfighting, and food offerings before being escorted away with the expressed hope that she will not return for seven years. Ludic and sacrificial elements are inextricably interwoven in the rite, particularly in the cockfight, and I analyse these apparently contradictory elements in relation both to recent theoretical writings, and to the Toraja ritual cycle as a whole, drawing parallels with ritual contests in some other Indonesian societies. Besides dealing with illness, conceived as categorical disorder and excessive ‘heat’, the rite is ultimately concerned with the enhancement of fertility, and emphasises community benefits instead of the intense status competition which predominates at mortuary rites. |
