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Photos: In Indonesia, people dig up dead relatives for festival

By Wires
General News Photos: In Indonesia, people dig up dead relatives for festival
NOV 11, 2015 LISTEN

The ritual, known as MaiNene, involves exhumed up dead family members, cleaning them and re-dressing them.

With gloves on their hands and nose covers, the people of island of Sulawesi dig out the corpses for the Cleaning of the Corpses Festival.

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The ritual which dates back hundreds of years, islanders pay respects to deceased relatives by digging them up, cleaning their corpses and dressing them in their favourite clothes.

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The practice, according to them was adopted by the Toraja, who believed the spirits would reward them for taking care of the dead.

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Most members of this group consider themselves Christians- many converted after the Dutch colonized the area. However, old traditions and cultural practices are still very visible within their burial traditions.

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