We already had a post about this tradition - The Dead Among the Living, but there is more information on this. Those who are not too impressionable are allowed under cat.
So what we already know. The Toraja people living on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi have a rather strange tradition. Every three years, local residents remove the bodies of their deceased relatives from the graves for the rite of manene or "purification".
The body of the deceased is exhumed and dressed up in beautiful clothes. This ritual emphasizes the close connection between the world of the living and the dead.
Dressed body of the deceased Nek Tosai before the traditional manene ceremony (left). Ari Titus holds the body of his brother Jeffrey, who died as a child.
A funeral is one of the most important and costly events in community life. Representatives of the Toraja ethnic group have been saving money for a decent funeral all their lives. Sometimes the burial takes place several years after death, when the family of the deceased finally accumulates enough funds to prepare a magnificent funeral.
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Following the rules of an ancient ritual, the Torajs dry the bodies of three deceased relatives, and then clean them and put them on new clothes.
At the beginning of the funeral, the Torajs slaughter a buffalo or bull and lay their horns near their relative's house. The more horns decorate the family home, the higher the social status of the deceased.
The Tyrande family members wear sunglasses to their deceased relative during the manene ritual held every three years in the village of Pangala.
Local residents bury the deceased in special depressions from the rock, where the coffins with the dead are placed.
The deceased are called “sick” or “asleep,” since the Torajs consider them alive until the funeral.
The Torajs bury their relatives where they have lived most of their lives or died. Departure from this tradition is causing divisions within families. For example, there are times when spouses wish to be buried nearby and thus put their partner above blood ties.
Torajian men perform the sesemba ritual on the island of Sulawesi.
Toraja men cook wild boar in the traditional way on bamboo sticks before the mannee ceremony.
Local people told the story of how a Torajian man named Pong Rumasek found the body of a deceased under a tree while hunting in the mountains. Rumasek dressed him in his own clothes and buried him with all the honors. The hunter believes that this will bring him prosperity.