Producer: Jan Lampen
TURNING OF THE BONES
The turning of the bones ceremony continues to be a widely celebrated ritual on the island of Madagascar. It involves exhuming the remains of a loved one for a day, dancing with it through local streets and hosting a feast in its honour.
However, during an outbreak of the plague in Madagascar in 2017, authorities warned citizens against participating in this long-standing Malagasy tradition. Health officials feared that exhuming the bodies could exacerbate the epidemic, which had coincided with the period when people engage in the ritual.
Bruno Ranarivelo, whose grandparents were exhumed in our original story became Madagascar’s consular general to South Africa and later served as his country’s ambassador to Mauritius.
Turning of the Bones
News
11 September 1994Imagine throwing a large-scale and lavish party for your parents, but there’s a twist – both parents are dead. An age-old tradition observed by the Malagasy people of Madagascar, the turning of the bones is an ancestral worship ceremony steeped in meaning, as they disentomb, redress and honour their dead.