Dancing with the dead at a reburial ceremony in Madagascar

Dancing with the dead at a reburial ceremony in Belaveno, Bezanozano Ethnic Area, Madagascar. The family roll the bodies in straw mats and then carry them aloft in a dance round the tomb. The famadihana, the Madagascan reburial ceremony, is a custom in the highlands of Madagascar. The purpose of the ritual is to induce the ancestors to impart their blessings to their descendants, as without those blessings one cannot have a good life. The famadihana is held during the cooler half of the year, when the dead are said to be freezing in their graves and therefore need new clothing.

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Filename: 5107f.jpg
Copyright: Copyright © 2005 Anders Ryman. All rights reserved.
Image Size: 5518x3661 / 16.7MB; Africa African ethnicity Ancestor worship Belaveno Bezanozano ethnicity Death Rite Large Group of People Life Cycle Ritual Madagascan ethnicity Madagascar Men People Rite de Passage Rite of Passage Women corpse dance dead body death ritual faith famadihana grave reburial religion tomb
Contained in galleries: Reburying the dead, Madagascar

Dancing with the dead at a reburial ceremony in Belaveno, Bezanozano Ethnic Area, Madagascar. The family roll the bodies in straw mats and then carry them aloft in a dance round the tomb. The famadihana, the Madagascan reburial ceremony, is a custom in the highlands of Madagascar. The purpose of the ritual is to induce the ancestors to impart their blessings to their descendants, as without those blessings one cannot have a good life. The famadihana is held during the cooler half of the year, when the dead are said to be freezing in their graves and therefore need new clothing.