Where it is celebrated:
Focus of celebration:
When it happens:
How it’s celebrated:
What is unique about its aesthetic/look?
*** For a firsthand account of witnessing the ceremony, visit this website.
- It is celebrated by the Malagasy people in Madagascar.
Focus of celebration:
- Famadihana is a funerary tradition known as the turning of the bones, people bring forth the bodies of their ancestors from the family crypts and rewrap them in fresh cloth, then dance with the corpses around the tomb to live music.
When it happens:
- Famadihana takes place every year between the months of July and October, in the highlands of Madagascar, roughly between Antananarivo and Fianarantsoa.
How it’s celebrated:
- The custom is based upon a belief that the spirits of the dead finally join the world of the ancestors after the body's complete decomposition and appropriate ceremonies, which may take many years. In Madagascar this became a regular ritual usually once every seven years, and the custom brings together extended families in celebrations of kinship.
What is unique about its aesthetic/look?
- Check out the photos below!
*** For a firsthand account of witnessing the ceremony, visit this website.
Note: All text has been copied from the "Ghost Festival" article on Wikipedia.