Famadihana is a very important traditional ceremony in Malagasy culture. It’s practiced differently in every ‘clan’, but generally it is a huge celebration held for ancestors. The dead are brought out from their tombs (usually after five years or so I think?) and transferred to another. It is not typically a mournful event – in fact, it is full of dancing, drinking, eating, and singing – so basically it’s a huge party. One of our professors invited us to attend his family’s famadihana, which is something that is really special because no other SIT group in Madagascar has gotten to do that – so it is not like this was set up for us, it was just by coincidence.
It was pretty amazing. Hard to describe because of how different and unbelievable it was to be there experiencing such a sacred event first hand. I think it’s safe to say that all of us genuinely appreciated being there- and we felt appreciated… so many people told us (in Malagasy…Roland translated) how happy they were to have us there, eating their food, and enjoying their family’s famadihana. We were even invited to dance in front of 500 people with the heuragasy dance group… crazy crazy crazy. It was also the first time I’d ever seen a dead person. The one thing that was pretty creepy about it was the full head of hair on their heads.
Apparently someone from my group told me they met a 'famadihana crasher'... someone who drove hours out of the city to arrive at some remote family reunion just for the party. He didn't know anyone (like us) and simply wanted to get shwastey and have a good time. Found this pretty funny...
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