Do you see the ragged panels on this ancient tree trunk?
Behind each one is a dead child.
In the Tana Toraja region – found in the mountains of southern Sulawesi, Indonesia – locals believe that nobody dies, and that departed family members continue to watch over the living as deified ancestors.
If a baby dies before it cuts its first tooth, it’s traditionally ‘buried’ in a hole carved into a tree trunk.
It’s believed that the wind takes the child’s soul to the afterlife, and that the body – which is wrapped in cotton fabric – is ‘absorbed’ by nature.
Over time these burial holes, which are covered by panels made from palm fibre, seal over.
This photo was taken in the village of Kambira, near Rantepao.
