In Madagascar, winter brings with it a unique family gathering. Across the central highlands, communities practise the famadihana – the “turning of the dead”. The ritual, rooted in Austronesian culture and dating back to the 16th century, involves exhuming ancestors, wrapping them in fresh silk shrouds and celebrating them in a lively, joyful ceremony.
In Ambohidranandriana, a village about an hour’s drive south of Antsirabé, in the volcanic Vakinankaratra region, music and laughter rise from a noisy procession weaving between the family tombs.
