Raw LLM Responses

I am seeing lots of misinformation about famadihana, here is some first had perspective. I am a returned Peace Corps volunteer who served in a village near Moramanga Madagascar. I gladly attended many famadihanas but it is not a part of my culture. This is my experience attending famadihanas in my village and surrounding villages. First, famadihana is only practices by some ethnic groups in the central highland region of Madagascar; Merina, Besanosano, Betisileo, Betsileo, probably others. I lived about 10km from a Betsimisaraka village and it was not practiced there. Traditionally famadihanas occur once every 7 years, but because they are so expensive the time scale is a bit more flexible. When someone dies they are wrapped in a fabric shroud and a woven mat and are buried underground. This is usual sad and funeral-like, usually community members attend. A family will bury people in the same hole stacked on top of each other so when it is time to exhume them it is easier and you can keep track of who is who. When the bodies are removed for the it is a super fun and joyous atmosphere, lots of cheering and often a band playing. Once the bodies are exhumed they are wrapped up in a new shroud and mat. Many times when people are initially buried there are items included with them (tools, dishes, all sorts of stuff), those are usually removed at this point. The “dancing” occurs when the newly wrapped up relatives are then transported to the tomb, a concrete above ground structure. The family members will hold the wrapped mat above their heads and usually lift it up and down, and run around with a little bit. There are often also people holding photographs of the person, also “dancing” around with that. Along with all the actual dead body stuff there is a MASSIVE party. This means loud music (where I live didn’t have electricity so this involved renting generators along with all the equipment) and dancing. Also free food! Everyone I went to had rice and beef bro