Saturday, January 6, 2018

Are all cultures equal?

Fears of Black Death EPIDEMIC from 'Cleaning of Corpses' ritual 

A TRIBAL ritual that involves digging up the bodies of dead relatives could cause an outbreak of the Black Death plague.

Woman keeps father’s corpse in house 12 years after death

Mute
Current Time0:00
/
Duration Time2:17
Loaded: 0%
Progress: 0%
 
 
Members of the Indonesian Tarajan tribe take part in a "Cleaning of the Corpses" ritual where they take photos with rotting bodies and dress them in fashionable clothes.
But fears are growing that the ritual could have deadly consequences.
Recently a deadly Black Death epidemic in Madagascar was blamed on an ancient ritual called "famadihanaf," or turning of the bones.
Plague fears growCLAUDIO SIEBER/BARCROFT IMAGES/GETTY
WARNING: Fears grow of bubonic plague outbreak thanks to Indonesian corpse ceremony
“Bacteria can still be transmitted and contaminate whoever handles the body”
Willy Randriamarotia, Madagascar's health ministry chief of staff
Madagascar is an island nation off the east coast of Africa.
The creepy ceremony sees relatives digging up loved ones, rewrapping the corpse and parading them through the streets while dancing with their dead relatives.
But local health officials said it was no coincidence that the plague outbreak happened between July and October, the same time as the tribal ceremony.

Doctor warns airborne Madagascar plague 'can kill in three hours'

 
Willy Randriamarotia, Madagascar's health ministry chief of staff, said at the time: "If a person dies of pneumonic plague and is then interred in a tomb that is subsequently opened for the ritual, the bacteria can still be transmitted and contaminate whoever handles the body."
He then ordered that plague victims must be buried in anonymous, tightly sealed containers to minimise the chances of relatives digging the bodies up.
But locals refused to listen to health warnings, and there are fears that a similar plague outbreak in Indonesia would also be spread quickly by the digging up of dead bodies.
'Cleaning of the Corpse' ceremony in IndonesiaCLAUDIO SIEBER/BARCROFT IMAGES
CREEPY: Tarajan tribespeople in the 'Cleaning of the Corpse' ritual dig up and dress relatives
Torajans rarely bury their dead. Instead they inter them in family tombs or placed inside or outside mountain caves.
Friends and family often visit the corpses and bring them necessities such as money and cigarettes.
Speaking to the BBC, Mamak Lisa said that she has kept her father's corpse in her house for 12 years, and that "relatives often visit him or call on the phone to see how Dad's doing, because we believe that he can hear us and is still around."

No comments: