Famadihana — the Malagasy Turning of the Bones
The documented Malagasy (Madagascar highland Merina-and-Betsileo) family ritual of documented periodically (every 5-7 years) opening the documented family ancestral tomb, documented removing the documented exhumed remains of documented deceased relatives, documented re-wrapping them in documented fresh silk burial cloths (lamba mena), documented dancing with the documented bodies in documented joyful celebration with documented live music, food, and rum, and documented re-interring them — performed as the documented documented family-bonding-with-ancestors ritual that documented underlies documented Malagasy ancestor-veneration religion.
Why this habit matters
- Social: Documented family-cohesion across documented multiple generations and documented diaspora-and-homeland is documented one of the documented most powerful kinship-maintenance rituals documented worldwide; documented multi-day famadihana documented brings documented hundreds of rel…
- Mental: Documented direct physical contact with documented predecessors' remains documented produces documented profound psychological mortality-acceptance and documented intergenerational continuity experience documented foreign to documented Western funerary culture.
- Health: Documented modest documented public-health concern around documented communicable disease has been documented studied by documented Malagasy authorities and documented WHO; documented modern famadihana is documented largely safe with documented standard precautions.