Case file · Folklore / legend
Famadihana and the 2017 plague
During Madagascar's 2017 outbreak of pneumonic plague, health officials asked families to postpone famadihana, the 'turning of the bones' in which ancestors' remains are taken from tombs and rewrapped.
2017 CE · -18.88, 47.51 · status: official
The account
Famadihana, held every few years in the highlands, is a joyful family reunion with music and dancing in which the dead are honoured and told the news. The 2017 epidemic caused more than 2,000 cases and over 200 deaths. Officials said bodies of plague victims could spread the disease and required them to be buried in sealed graves.
The sceptical view
Whether the rite spread infection is debated; most cases came from person-to-person spread in cities. The request clashed with deeply held duties to the dead.