Creepy Photos Of Indonesian Festival Where Corpses Are Dug Up And Groomed

An Indonesian tribe has a unique relationship with their dead relatives – the people dig up the bodies of their departed loved ones for special events, including a harvest festival.

The corpses, which are preserved using formaldehyde, are exhumed, groomed, dressed up, given cigarettes and paraded around the village.

The Torajan tribe from South Sulawesi in Indonesia is known to be passionate when it comes to their dead loved ones.

After grooming the corpses, these are roamed around across the farmland, in a bid to gain good fortune and abundant harvest.

The festival is called Ma'nene, or The Ceremony of Cleaning Corpses.

It is unclear when and how the ceremony started but according to the National Geographic, the festival could be traced back to the 1900s.

A villager said as reported by Daily Mail:

“It is our way of respecting the dead. There is no mourning. It is a moment of joy for us because we reunite with our dead relatives. We try to honor them and in return get their blessings for good harvest.”

“After the walk, the villagers sacrifice buffaloes and pigs as an offering for the dead’s free walk to heaven.”

Aside from dressing the dead bodies in new clothes, their coffins are also repaired and cleaned.

For the Torajan people, their relatives who died are not treated as dead until after the funeral. When a person has recently died, the family will wash the body in a formaldehyde solution and will be kept inside a room to be treated as if he or she is still alive.

Many of the family members will treat the dead body as just someone who's sick.

The people talk to their dead relatives, wash them and put them in fancy clothing. The ritual can last for several days and would even take years to save up for.

Here are more creepy photos of the festival:

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What do you think of this festival? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.