yowyowyow

Sky Burial, Litang

Posted on 20. Nov, 2009 by yoyo in Sichuan, Writings

 Sky Burial is maybe the most eccentric Tibetan ceremony you’ll have a good chance to witness when travelling in Tibetan areas. having very little firewood, and very hard, usually frozen ground, the Tibetans had to find a good way to dispose of dead bodies. believing that vultures are holy animals, because they do not kill other creatures, the connection is obvious.

 The Tibetans believe that the body is only a vessle to cary the soul through this life, and so, once dead the soul leaves, and the body has no importance.

 We were told that the bodies wait and decay for about 4 days before being buried. even on days with no burials the hills surrounding the burial site are crowded with awaiting vultures.

 The bodies are brought to the burial site by a monk (we think he was a monk) who is experienced in the ceremony. a small crowd of Tibetans, usually not including the family, comes to help. the body (or bodies) are tied to a pole stuck in the ground, to prevent the vultures from dragging them away. the clothes wrapping the body, and the clothes the deceased wore when dying are cut off, and with the hair he is carried to be burnt. the monk then prepares the body for the vultures, which means making very deep cuts through-out the whole body. No need to discribe it in detail. the vultures are so eager by then, that the locals stand in line between them and the body, to enable the monk to do his work.

 Once the body is ready the monk steps aside, and the vultures go into a feeding franzy, from which you can only see a pile of vultures, and an occassional fight over a piece of flesh. after 6-7 minutes the vultures start to step away, and the monk goes in again. now, the skeleton is revealed, with almost no flesh at all. the monk uses an axe and a knife to brake the bones, mixing them with flour, making it all into mush. the skull is taken-care of last. the vultures then have another go on the mush, leaving nothing.

 
The whole ceremony can take up to 2 hours, and several bodies might be burried the same day, at different times.

 In Litang the ceremony is conducted just outside town, in a small creak marked with a small building. for directions see.

 During the ceremony I was thinking how would Judaism regard this ceremony? in the bible, bad men were thrown in the field, for the vultures to eat. the ceremony itself is hard to watch, even for local Tibetans, and some views will definately stick in my head for some time.

Tags: ceremony, China, Sichuan