Portal:Indonesia/POTW/4, 2007

One of Toraja wood carving's patterns, the pa'tedong or the buffalo. Torajans express social and religious concepts by wood carving with patterns symbolizing daily life activities/materials, ranging from animal symbol to a symbol of relationship between Torajan villages. The pa'tedong symbol in this picture is special among others, because wealthiness in Toraja is counted by how many buffalos someone has; the buffalo pattern is therefore a hope of wealth.

Photo credit: Indon.