Living To Die in Tojara

tree of baby graves                                                                                                      Matt Paish

On the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, a fascinating and ancient tradition continues to be practiced by the highlanders of Tana Toraja. Relatives who have died are kept in the home, embalmed, dressed, talked to, and cared for, sometimes for years, while the family saves up to pay for the funeral. Because the funerals are a marker of the deceased's importance, they can be very elaborate, and because the number of animals sacrificed is thought to influence how quickly the individual's soul will reach the afterlife, the ceremony is a bloody one. The skeletons are then taken to the surrounding mountains and cliffs and replicas of the deceased are placed in caves to watch over the village, while babies are buried in trees (word of caution: the photographs are of the mummified corpses and of the animal slaughter) (and thanks to Kris for showing me this story): http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-best-place-on-earth-to-die