Laura, Nancy, Andrew and Desiree dressed for the Cremation

Hanne, Laura and Trudy

Whitney decked out in his finest

The Nagaben was a festival with vendors selling food, drink and other items, music was blaring on the loud speaker

Food Vendor

Childern getting cotten candy

Food vendor

For each dead person a patulangan, a life sized mythical animal-shaped bamboo-wood-paper coffin, is made.

Black was for men

Red was for women

White we learned was a man of the priest cast

Each was different

Womans's Sarcophagus

Glen by Sarcophagus

For sure a male Sarcophagus

Woman's Sarcophagus

Mask Sarcophagus Face

Boys

So you may ask why was there so many dead people. Well they actually been saving them up over the previous two years. When someone died, they wrapped them in shrouds and buried them is shallow graves in the cemetery then the day before the Cremation they dug up all the bodies that had been buried the previous years. Bodies were in these graves just the day before.

Not everyone died in time for the cremeation. Here a family is gathered around a fresh grave for one of their family.

Family gathered around body being buried next to freshly dug up grave.

Offerings in front of priest, the man in white.

Covering up the body with earth.

Many sarcophagus lined up

People gathered around a priest

Flame thrower to start the Sarcophagus fire

Then the strangest thing happened, almost everyone walked away towards the town leaving us standing there wondering what happened. There was some announcement over the loudspeaker but it was in Balinese so we had no idea what was going on. As it turned out none of the sarcophagus had bodies in them. The people went to fetch the bodies.

Then about a half hour later there was progression from town with everyone carrying items on their heads.

The progression procced back into the cemetary grounds

The people carying different kinds of offerings, some on wooden poles

And then on the shoulders of two men were the actually coffens with the bodies.

Coffens

More coffens

Women carrying offerings

Each family would then walk in circle seven time around each sarcophagus

Each coffen was then placed inside one of the sarcophagus

Placing bod inside a sarcophagus

Sadly, a body of a child.

The several pigeons were released representing release of the soul of the person that was deceased.

Preparing a sarcophagus

Offerings were placed on top of each sarcophagus.

And then after a quite pause, an anouncement was made and they were all set on fire.

Two dozen of them

All burning

Going up in flames

Until there was nothing but ashes

As the people stood by and watched.