Champagne Brunch and Dancing with Dead Bodies

This past Saturday, Minnie invited me to a "Famadihana," the traditional Malagasy celebration of "Turning of the Bones." You should Google it to read about it, but I'll just write about my personal experience.

Before we attended the Famadihana, we had a brunch potluck with a few French interns and one Japanese volunteer who live in Miarinarivo with Minnie. It was important for us to be full before we attended the ceremony because all the Malagasy folks kept warning us not to eat the "vary be menaka" (rice with a lot of oil) that is served at the ceremony. The hostesses bought a bottle of champagne, and the food was delicious. I made Potatoes O'Brien, and there was also crepes with a great variety of toppings (chocolate spread, lychee jam, strawberry jelly, fresh fruit, etc.), a giant omelet pie which they called "Tortilla" with potatoes and cheese, rice salad, ham, bread, etc. Minnie brought banana pancakes, Ghirardelli Chocolate Hazelnut mix, and some fancy coffee. Oh, how I miss bacon and $4.99 Champagne Brunch at Overland Café!

We showed up to the ceremony around 1:30 in the afternoon and were greeted by the Mayor of Miarinarivo, but had to drive to the graveyard immediately after since we were late to the morning festivities. There were TONS of people (and I would say that at least 80% of them were drunk/wasted). The tombs here are huge because they’re very sacred and sometimes they are built with even more attention than people’s houses. At certain tombs, you cannot point your finger or take pictures because it is a sign of disrespect to the ancestors. I used to think each tomb was for one person, but they dug up 13 dead bodies at the ceremony!

There were two bands that were hired and I was impressed to see that one of them had matching tracksuits and caps for all the musicians. Since they were also passing around shot glasses, there were times when they were REALLY off tune, but the music was still fun and the clarinets played impressive high notes.

The ceremony started with a guy making a long speech and reading off all the names of the deceased, starting from the eldest to the most recent. The next part was the tradition of sharing a drink with their ancestors. They passed around a beer bottle and each person took a sip before pouring a bit into the tomb, followed by a large handle of some dark alcoholic drink. After more drinking, they opened up the tombs and brought straw mats in to transport the dead bodies (again, from eldest to most recent). Only certain people were allowed to go inside the tomb, but you have to go down a set of stairs to get to a big room with the bodies stacked on top of each other. The first few that they brought out were really small because they’ve passed away more than ten years ago and only their bones or ashes remain. The most recent one passed away in January 2010.

While they marched out with the bodies wrapped in straw mats, other family members danced outside with bags of fabric to rewrap the bodies. The straw mats were then removed before the rewrapping and the families take the mats home to honor their ancestors.

I missed the rewrapping part of the ceremony because I was watching a drunken fight on the side, but the final part of the ceremony before putting the bodies back into the tombs was dancing with the newly wrapped bodies and spraying perfume on them. This was the most interesting part because everyone was dancing with their hands up in the air, raising the roof, and balancing the dead bodies on their heads. It was like watching a football game or crowd surfing at a concert, except with dead bodies! I was nervous that some bones or parts of the dead bodies would fall out because everyone was so drunk, and I was probably breathing in ten year old remains! Sometimes, the bodies were raised up in the air and swung like the Dragon Swing at carnivals….it was crazy! I wish I can upload my pictures, but I’ll try to send some home when I have a chance.

Overall, I am glad I was able to experience it, but I’m not sure if I would want to attend another one…too many drunk and sweaty men trying to hit on me or get me to dance with them, plus a lot of dust and a long day in the sun.