Tana Toraja tradition shows woman grooming mummified mother

In the Tana Toraja region of Sulawesi, Indonesia, a video has surfaced showing a woman performing the ancestral Ma’nene ritual. The footage depicts a woman carefully grooming and dressing the mummified remains of her mother, including combing her hair and applying accessories.

This practice is a long-standing tradition among the Toraja people, where death is not viewed as an immediate separation from loved ones. During the Ma’nene ritual, often described by anthropologists as a “second funeral,” families temporarily exhume the mummified remains of their ancestors to clean them, dress them in new clothing, and present them to the community.