People in various nationalities, cultures and traditions have their own ways of remembering their departed loved ones.
In some countries, they observe a day to remember their dead. Actually, it's two consecutive days to be exact, November 1 for the All Saints' Day and November 2 for the All Souls' Day. In Spanish it's called Todos Los Santos, an occasion inherited from the Mexicans during the Spanish regime.
Asia, without question, is predominantly a rich cradle of civilizations, cultures and traditions. People from different societies and minority groups have their own individual observance of the day of the dead.
In an Indonesian village in Tojara, South Sulawesi, they've also set a particular day every year to honor their dead; bringing them flowers, cleaning their resting places and literally grooming them for their annual ritual. It all starts with exhuming their dead relatives first to clean and dress them up as if they're still part of the world of the living. They call this ritual MaiNene.
Getting ready for the occasion.
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A little finishing touch for mommy (left). Dead relatives get to meet again (right).
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Even a baby skeleton seems to smile at the camera with her favorite doll
Coffins are opened up for corpse grooming
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A couple is together again at last (left). A mummy is put back to its coffin ready for the long drag (right).
Unique graveyard carved on a rocky mountain side.
The mummies are then taken to the place where they died and are dragged back to their village following a straight line. The villagers believe that the spirits of the dead wander around the area where they died and have no idea of how to go back to their village. So if a person dies in a particular place, the family should go to the place of death with the deceased's mummy to fetch his spirit. The villagers do this ritual every year to ensure that their loved ones' spirits come back home.
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