Famadihana
The famadihana is a ritual reburial of the dead in Madagascar .
In the traditional village communities, the bones of the ancestors are excavated at least every ten years. Each family clan (Foko) celebrates the festival in its own rhythm. The dead are clothed with new, valuable shrouds made of silk and buried again. Often times a famadihana is held to make amends for a fady's transgression . The so-called ombiasy (a kind of shaman ) analyzes the conditions within the community and declares habits, places, people, animals and plants to be taboo. As a rule, the fady gains strength by being involved with ancestor worship and the dead ( razana) is linked directly. The turning of the dead festival is the most important rite in the Madagascan ancestral cult and at the same time serves to maintain social structures at the local level. The ombiasy decides if and when this is necessary by establishing a spiritual contact with the razana (ancestors).
Ancestral cult
Many Malagasy people believe that people go on living as razana after they die . One of the tasks of the ancestors is the mediation between man and God. If misfortune happens to a family or person, a famadihana can be held to appease the ancestral spirits. Middlemen are the ombiasy, who, after a long training in orally handed down traditions, are masters in medicinal plant studies . The Madagascan ancestral cult includes the possession ritual tromba , which is associated with the East African pepo cult. On the East African coast, the Malagasy spirits are known as kibuki . The family ancestors are venerated in the house.
Health risk
The practice of Famadihana is seen as a risk factor in connection with plague diseases in Madagascar. As the world's most severely affected country by the plague, 63 people died there in 2015, while there were 275 deaths from plague worldwide.
See also
literature
-
Émile Durkheim : Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse . Éditions de EHESS, Paris 2012, ISBN 978-2-7132-2330-3 (EA Paris 1912)
- German: The elementary forms of religious life (stw; Bd. 1125). New edition Suhrkamp, Frankfurt / M. 2005, ISBN 3-518-28725-7 (EA Frankfurt / M. 1994).
Web links
- Religion in Madagascar (English report)
- Text about Fady (Madagascar)
- Text about ancestors and the cult of the dead (Madagascar)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The forgotten "Black Death". The press. June 16, 2016, accessed June 17, 2016 .
- ^ The plague, alive and well in Madagascar. Washington Post. March 9, 2016, accessed June 17, 2016 .