The real walking dead.

• Position: THE BIG PICTURE - Piter Sampe Sambara, religious ritual - Brief article

Why is this guy who died in 1932 posing for a picture in Indonesia? It's all part of an ancient religious ritual called Ma'nene (the Ceremony of Cleaning Corpses) that's performed by members of the Torajan people in the province of South Sulawesi. Whenever relatives can attend, families dig up the mummified bodies of their deceased loved ones to wash them and dress them in fancy clothes. After grooming the bodies, they place them back in their graves. The "family reunion" is meant to show ancestors love and respect long after they've taken their last breath. In fact, when Torajans die, they never really go away. Their relatives still talk to them and bring them gifts as if they were...