Friday, 9 September 2016

Indonesia villagers dig up their ancestors every three years to show Love and Respect


Indonesian villagers dig up their ancestors every three years and dress them in new clothes in the ancient rituals to show Love and Respect

The Torajan people of indonesia proudly display their relative after digging them up and dressing them in new clothes in an ancient ritual that represent showing love and respect for their late loved ones.
The ritual is done every three years with the tribes from Sulawesi island exhuming their dead, who they washed and dressed then pose for the family photographs in a festival known as Ma'nene

The ritual which means The Ceremony of Cleaning Corpses" when translate has been going on for century

The Funeral is one of the most important events among the Torajan People, an Ethnic group Indigenous to the Mountainous region of Tana Toraja.

A lot of them save money for their entire lives so that can have the most respectable burial for themselves or their family member.


In some cases the deceased's funeral is been put on hold for several weeks so that the family can raise money for the extravagant funeral.

But the funeral is not the last their relative remains is seen. Anytime an elderly villager dies, their body is wrapped in several clothes to avoid decay.

Then, after three years they dug up the corpse, admired by loved ones and dressed in different clothing.

Another important element of Ma'nene event is repairing and replacing the coffins to avoid decomposing of the body.

The Torajan people reside in the mountains of Sulawesi in Indonesia. It is a remote village area, many of the villagers were completely autonomous until 1970s, when it got exposed to the world by the Dutch missionaries.

The villagers marry within their family - but only beyond the fourth cousin.

According to their believe, death is not the final step but just one step in an ongoing spiritual life. 

Source: Daily Mail

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