Hello
Toe & Skyler
 The Island of Madagascar houses 18 tribes and the
culture is mixture of all the tribes.
 Religion in Madagascar: 51% African Religion, 41%
Christian, 7% Islam, and 1% Other
 The inhabitants of the Island respect their ancestors
a lot and see them as next to gods
 There is a soothsayer or
magician in every tribe.
Funerals involve dancing
and Feasting.
 The Macabre is the is a dance
that is normally performed
during the festival
Famadihana also known as the “Turning of the Bones.”
 This is more like a party rather than a formal dance.
 This dance and festival is like the Day of the Dead
ceremony.
 One major difference is that the “Turning of the
Bones” is preformed with the bones of the families
dead Ancestors.
 Vendors may set up stalls to sell cigarettes and ice
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cream to the crowed.
The departed are retrieved from the tomb as guests of
honor.
After the celebration is over the corpses are reburied
with gifts from the living, including bottles of alcohol.
This is usually performed ever 3, 5, and 7 years.
A feast must be served at every Famadihana
celebration. “Zebu”
 This dance is not performed by a select few. It is
performed by the family members of the dead, friends,
and the entire community.
 The guest of honors at this dance is the family
ancestors. They emerge covered in their shrouds,
known as lambas.
 The dead emerge wearing their shrouds, known as
lambas, and are laid out on the ground ready to be
unwrapped and the bones lovingly cleaned.
 It involves food, drink, and music.
 Attendees gather to drink and dance to live bands that
will continue to play for almost the entire ritual.
 This dance is more of a social free for all then a normal
dance.
 Traditional and
contemporary music
revolves around dance
rhythms which are
influenced both from the
African as well as the
Indonesian mainland.
 Music is a very important
portion of the festival.
 It is a very jaunty sound of
mainly brass instruments.
 The music is preformed
by:
 Whistle
 Flutes
 V ahila
 Lokanga Voatovo
 Kabosy
 The Macabre has been a dance that has been
performed for thousands of years. It was a ritual that
went back over 2000 years ago according to ancient
writing.
 Not much change.
 One of the largest contributions of Madagascan
culture in America is that the sounds of the music is a
precursor to Jazz in New Orleans.
 Not much change.
 The churches have tried to change this dance. But it
has been almost unchanged for 2000 years.
 The celebration is open to anyone.
 Some Malagasy have called for an end to the
Famadihana ritual because it places a great financial
strain on the family.
 The Christian Church and Muslim clerics in
Madagascar have also tried to end the ritual.
 The ritual has stated to lose its popularity.
 Famadihana holds an important place in the hearts of
the Malagasy people.
 Famadihana is an act of love – anthropologist
Professor Maurice Block.
 Famous for being very friendly and hospitable.
Good Bye
Cactus Tours. (2008). Madagascar overview, the malagasy culture.
Retrieved from http://www.cactus-madagascar.com/culture.php
Gupta, R. (2008, October 20). Culture of Madagascar. Retrieved
from http://www.articleswave.com/cultures-andcivilizations/culture-of-madagascar.html
Kamarudin, Y. (n.d.). Madagascar's macabre dance of the dead.
Retrieved from http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/newsdancing-dead-madagascar?image=17
Randrianja, S., & Ellis, S. (2009). Madagascar a short history.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Publishing
Singer, C. (1997). The traditional dances of Madagascar. Retrieved
from http://www.taiaf.de/html/traditionaldances.html