Cadavers unearthed, dressed and depicted smoking or wearing sunglasses. Meet this creepy ancestral tradition.
In Torja, Sulawesi region (Indonesia), tradition dictates that every three years, its citizens must dig up their deceased to groom them and change their clothes. Hygiene issue Many of them take pictures of the newly 'resurrected', to whom they put sunglasses, lest the sun dazzle them, give them to smoke or place a mobile phone.
The festival of Ma'nene, which translates as the ceremony of "cleaning the corpse", has been carried out for centuries, as the citizens of this region believe that the spirits will reward them for caring for the deceased.
Funeral ceremonies are extremely important to the Tarajan, and often take weeks, months or even years after the death of a loved one to give family members enough time to raise the money. Many families, as reported by the 'Daily Star', get deeply into debt with this type of service.
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In addition to dressing the corpses and adding their favorite belongings, the Tarajan also use the ceremony as an opportunity to repair or replace the coffins to prevent the bodies from rotting too much.
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The relatives wear surgical masks to avoid bacterial infections of the corpses. Most of the 650,000 inhabitants of Torajan are Muslims or Christians, but some still practice "Aluk Todolo," or "The Way of the Ancestors."