Dressing the dead: Indonesian villagers clean corpses in afterlife ritual

AFP

August 19, 2022

This picture taken on August 15, 2022 shows family members performing the Manene traditional rite of cleaning the preserved remains of deceased relatives in Lembang. In a village on Indonesia´s Sulawesi island, residents pull coffins holding the preserved bodies of their loved ones from a burial cave carved into the mountainside in a ritual for the afterlife. — AFP — This picture taken on August 15, 2022 shows family members performing the "Manene" traditional rite of cleaning the preserved remains of deceased relatives in Lembang. In a village on Indonesia´s Sulawesi island, residents pull coffins holding the preserved bodies of their loved ones from a burial cave carved into the mountainside in a ritual for the afterlife. — AFP

Hundreds of corpses are pulled out and dressed in village of Torea.
Offerings are symbol of gratitude from children and grandchildren to departed ones.
Few of bodies remain relatively intact from mummification process.

TIKALA, INDONESIA: A family on an Indonesian island poses for a photo with an elderly relative no longer able to smile, while another clan tries to dress one of their eldest forebears in khakis and a shirt.

But the eldest generation isn’t stuck in a retirement home or harbouring a grudge against their younger kin — they are dead.

In two small towns on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, residents are celebrating a days-long ceremony called the Manene.

This picture taken on August 16, 2022 shows members of the Toraja ethnic group exhuming bodies of their relatives from a community burial site, to be cleaned and dressed in a series of traditional ceremonies honouring the dead known as Manene, in Torea village in North Toraja, Indonesia´s South Sulawesi. In a village on Indonesia´s Sulawesi island, residents pull coffins holding the preserved bodies of their loved ones from a burial cave carved into the mountainside in a ritual for the afterlife. — AFP — This picture taken on August 16, 2022 shows members of the Toraja ethnic group exhuming bodies of their relatives from a community burial site, to be cleaned and dressed in a series of traditional ceremonies honouring the dead known as "Manene", in Torea village in North Toraja, Indonesia´s South Sulawesi. In a village on Indonesia´s Sulawesi island, residents pull coffins holding the preserved bodies of their loved ones from a burial cave carved into the mountainside in a ritual for the afterlife. — AFP

Hundreds of corpses are pulled out and dressed in the village of Torea as part of the ritual to honour their spirits and provide offerings.

Spirits of the dead

Torajans are an ethnic group that numbers about a million people on Sulawesi island.

They have few qualms when it comes to talking with an embalmed corpse, dressing them up, brushing their hair or even taking pictures with a mummified relative.

This picture taken on August 15, 2022 shows a family member performing the Manene traditional rite of cleaning the preserved remains of a deceased relative in Lembang. In a village on Indonesia´s Sulawesi island, residents pull coffins holding the preserved bodies of their loved ones from a burial cave carved into the mountainside in a ritual for the afterlife. — AFP — This picture taken on August 15, 2022 shows a family member performing the "Manene" traditional rite of cleaning the preserved remains of a deceased relative in Lembang. In a village on Indonesia´s Sulawesi island, residents pull coffins holding the preserved bodies of their loved ones from a burial cave carved into the mountainside in a ritual for the afterlife. — AFP

Depending on the village, the Manene is usually held every few years in July or August.

The Torajans believe spirits of the dead will linger in the world before their funeral ceremonies and will begin their journey to the land of spirits after their souls are immortalised.

The families will preserve the body until they have saved enough money for an elaborate funeral.

The deceased were previously mummified through an embalming process using natural remedies such as sour vinegar and tea leaves.

This picture taken on August 17, 2022 shows a family member of the Toraja ethnic group preparing the bodies of exhumed relatives from a community burial site to be cleaned and dressed in a series of traditional ceremonies honouring the dead known as Manene, in Torea village, in North Toraja, Indonesia´s South Sulawesi. In a village on Indonesia´s Sulawesi island, residents pull coffins holding the preserved bodies of their loved ones from a burial cave carved into the mountainside in a ritual for the afterlife. — AFP — This picture taken on August 17, 2022 shows a family member of the Toraja ethnic group preparing the bodies of exhumed relatives from a community burial site to be cleaned and dressed in a series of traditional ceremonies honouring the dead known as "Manene", in Torea village, in North Toraja, Indonesia´s South Sulawesi. In a village on Indonesia´s Sulawesi island, residents pull coffins holding the preserved bodies of their loved ones from a burial cave carved into the mountainside in a ritual for the afterlife. — AFP

But many families now take the shortcut of injecting a formaldehyde solution into the corpse.

The disinterring is a shocking and gruesome scene for onlooking Western tourists, yet residents are more than happy to clean out the bodies, take pictures and pray for their souls.

But the village chief says some locals have gone too far.

"The bodies must be treated with the utmost respect in the Manene ritual," Badus said.

"Relatives are paying respect to their parents or ancestors and disrespect has consequences."