Turning of the bones and the Madagascar dance with the dead

The Malagasy people of Madagascar have built a way of life around death – during the dry winter months, famadihana ceremonies, known as “the turning of the bones”, take place around various towns and villages to commemorate the deceased.

Once every two to seven years, each family holds a huge celebration at their ancestral crypt where the remains of the dead are exhumed, wrapped in fine silk, sprayed with wine or perfume, and brought out for community festivities. In the Malagasy culture, the turning of the bones is a vital element in maintaining links with revered ancestors, who still play a very real role in daily life.

Anthropologist Professor Maurice Bloch, who has studied the ritual, says the ceremony is a chance for a family reunion. It is an evocation of being together again, a transformation so that the dead can experience once more the joys of life. But most importantly, he says, famadihana is an act of love.

As one foreigner who witnessed the ceremony described, “I came expecting the most macabre of ceremonies but instead found an extreme form of adoration for loved ones that will forever change how I view life and death”.