As we know, all cultures have their own way of celebrating those who have passed away, but in Indonesia, in the province of Tana Toraja, funeral rites are a little “different” from the usual. The Ma’Nene ritual is the festival of ancestor worship. When a person dies, the body is mummified with natural ingredients and buried in rock tombs. The mummification process allows the preservation of the corpse and allows the family to return to exhume it!The Torajan people proudly display their dead relatives after digging them up and dressing them in new clothes in an ancient ritual that is meant to show respect for their loved ones.

The festival, which has no fixed date, usually takes place towards the end of August, and allows people to revisit their loved ones.Every three years, the tribe from Sulawesi island exhume their dead, who they wash and dress in fresh clothes and then pose for family photosgraphs. The ritual, which translates as “The Ceremony of Cleaning Corpses,” has been going for more than a century.

Here death is understood not as sad or fearful, and the exhumation of mummies is a way to connect with death and, in some way, transcend it.Dust and debris are removed from the mummies, and then the bodies are dressed again. Significant personal items, like this mummy with glasses, are left in their place.

One of the most important events in the lives of the Torajan people is the funeral and most people save money their entire lives so they can have a respectable burial for themselves or family members.In some cases the deceased’s funeral is held several weeks or even years after their death so the family have can have time to save up and pay for a respectable funeral.But the funeral is never the last time their loved one is seen. Whenever a villager dies, their body is wrapped in several layers of cloth to prevent decay.Many people are afraid to breathe the dust of corpses and wear protective masks:

All photosgraphs in this article were taken by photosgrapher Paul Koudounaris (this is his official website), who specializes in documenting the rites with which people of different cultures face and celebrate death. This festival may seem decidedly macabre, but for the inhabitants of Tana Toraja it is a sincere expression of a love that even death cannot win.