This lumbung or storage barn for the rice harvest is festooned with the horns of many buffalo. Their crowns adorn the front of this building that is located close to the town of Toraja in central Sulawesi. And they are all that remain of the large beasts.
Tethered by one leg to a stout tree, the handlers condition the animals to lift their heads and extend their necks by pulling on the rope that is tied to the metal ring through their noses. The attempts by the animals to avoid the pain is short lived however. Immediately after one sharp pull, their necks are cut with one deft swing of a long steel blade. Many times the executioner misses his mark and both the carotid artery and the trachea are severed. The stricken, immobile beast falls to its knees in a spurting stream of bright red blood and an angry pink mist shrouds their heads as they fall. The killing ground runs red for days.
This slaughter is all part of the ceremony for the dead in the region. It is held once or twice each year. And it is a major tourist attraction. The assembled mourners feast on the flesh for days.
Michael Campbell, the main character in the novel, CAPISTRANO, looms large as the owner operator of a club for gentlemen in Manila. But Shakespeare, in Henry IV, had it right. Creation of a kingdom is one thing, keeping it is another. In the chess game of life, Michael gets caught in a knight fork. As Bob Dylan wrote,
"in ceremonies of the horseman, even a pawn must hold a grudge."
Follow Michael and his exploits and witness his attempts to avoid the fate of the buffalo.
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