Malesung

Malesung is followed by the Minahasa of the northern tip of Sulawesi, led by the priests called Tonaas Walian. The Minahasa traced their descent from the first pair, Toar and Lumimuut. Their descendants quarrelled until the tonaas, the leaders, met at a stone called Watu Pinawetengan, where they divided the people into three groups, each with its own language and ritual.

The walian, shamans, were often women. Until well into the nineteenth century the Minahasa lived in rival warrior societies that practised headhunting, which was believed to give the warrior keter, a spirit substance linked to courage and fertility.

Portuguese Franciscans made some converts in the 1560s, and the Minahasa resisted Islam. A treaty with the Dutch East India Company in 1679 began Dutch rule, and the Minahasa later embraced Protestant Christianity.