Ma’nene Ritual to Honor the Spirits of their Mummified Ancestors

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Family members put back in the traditional grave the preserved body of their relative during a traditional ritual called “Manene” in Panggala, Nort Toraja, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The ritual is held every three years when family members gather to clean the graves and change the clothes of their deceased relatives to honor their spirits. The ritual is held before the planting season arrives.

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For them, death is not something to dread and avoid, but a central part of living that involves honoring the deceased with the utmost care to aid their passage into the afterlife.

Funerals are major celebrations that take years of preparation. In the meantime, the dead bodies remain in their family homes. Their loved ones change their clothes, give them food and water daily, and swat the flies off their rotting skin.

Hariandi Hafid/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock

Hariandi Hafid/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock

Hariandi Hafid/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock

Hariandi Hafid/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock

Hariandi Hafid/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock

Hariandi Hafid/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock

Hariandi Hafid/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock

Hariandi Hafid/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock

Hariandi Hafid/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock

Hariandi Hafid/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock

Hariandi Hafid/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock