Exhumation customs very much respected in MadagascarIn a village of Ambohimandry, 48 km west of Antananarivo, capital of Madagascar, people wearing same clothes carried on Saturday a deceased body on their shoulders by dancing around the market. This is exhumation or “Famadihana” in Malagasy language, a kind of funeral ritual customs still respected in the Indian Ocean island country [...] Rakotomalala Raymond Jules was well known in the selling of Malagasy silk abroad. He was born on Aug. 26, 1933 and died in July 02, 2005. Seeing that no sad event happened in the family seven years after he was dead, his descendents in various countries in the world decided to exhume him following a conversation by skype between them. But in general in Madagascar the exhumation is triggered sometimes by a family member who had a dream that a deceased person feels cold. This family member alerts the whole family to organize an exhumation [...] Knowing that the date of Aug. 18, 2012 is the auspicious date for the exhumation of Mr. Rakotomalala Raymond Jules, family asked authorization from the local authority because they will occupy public place and road. Then the family opened a bank account to store the money for the event. A son of Rakotomalala said what the family can pick from this account is 3.4 million ariary (around 1,700 U.S. dollars) . However every family members gave also some materials or food used during the event [...] However, the organization of such festivities is very expensive and sometimes leads to misunderstandings between family members because sometimes it requires each family member to pay a large sum of money, while some members cannot afford to pay such a big sum.
24.08.2012 - Coastweek
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