Today we went to Isalo National Park with tour guide Tody. As we trotted along the cliffs, we sighted some interesting man-made stone walls. Tody explained that these were different kinds of tombs from Barra tribe. An easily accessible natural cave holds the recently deceased for three to five years as a temporary tomb. The turning of the bones ceremony is then held. First a party occurs during which, in Tody’s words, “20 people are sad and 80 people are happy.” After that, the bones are removed from the temporary tomb and wrapped in fresh silk. A few lucky indivduals then have some liquid courage, rum, before they scale a cliffside to the natural cave that is the permanent tomb. These tombs are higher than the temporry ones because of the belief that the higher the body is, the closer it is to god. There is also the added bonus of protection from grave robbers as many people are buried with valuables.
