Famadihana, the turning of the bones

About Famadihana, the turning of the bones

Famadihana is practised mainly by the Merina and Betsileo peoples of the highlands of Madagascar, in the cool dry season between about June and September. A family, after months of saving and with a date chosen by an astrologer, opens its tomb, brings out the dead, and wraps them in fresh silk shrouds, sometimes writing their names on the cloth. Music plays, the bundles are carried and danced with, and the dead are spoken to and asked for blessing on the family. The ancestors are believed to become powerful intermediaries with God once the body has fully decayed, and the rite is seen as a sign of continuing love. It is costly, so some families have taken it up less often, and health authorities have raised concern about it during outbreaks of plague.