Sunday, September 19, 2010

Famadihana


Back in Madagascar the family here had a big ceremony to celebrate. The grandparents that passed away some years ago were reunited at last in a new tomb build by their children. 4 zebu's had to be killed, and 40 liters of toka gasy (home brew rum) had to be finished. 2 Nights of partying until daylight, dancing in front of the 2 bodies and lots of speeches to remember the ancestors. And then after 7 days of arranging, travelling, drinking, waiting, eating rice, sleeping in the house of the ancestors, fighting zebu's, eating unexpected parts of them, and dancing with a body after 5 years in the ground, we could join the two in the new tomb. Lots of impressions, not easily caught in picture, film or word. Check the link for a video of one day of the ceremony. On the picture the family and the people of the surrounding villages are digging around 4 meters to get to the entrance of this classical tomb where grandmother was burried.