Famadihana

Famadihana, often translated as the turning of the bones, is a funerary and ancestor-veneration ceremony practiced by the Malagasy people of the central highlands of Madagascar, particularly among the Merina and Betsileo, in which a family periodically opens the family tomb, removes the wrapped remains of deceased relatives, and rewraps them in fresh silk shrouds while dancing with the bodies to live music amid a festive communal celebration. Held every five to seven years or on an occasion the family deems auspicious, famadihana is understood as an act of respect and continued relationship with ancestors, whose goodwill is believed to protect and bless the living, and the event doubles as a major social occasion that draws extended family together, reaffirms lineage ties, and reasserts the family's connection to its ancestral land through the tomb itself. Though it has declined in some communities under the influence of Christianity, which a substantial majority of Malagasy people practice, famadihana remains an actively performed and culturally significant tradition in many highland Malagasy communities and is one of the most widely cited examples in the ethnographic literature on secondary burial and ancestor veneration.