There is a village in Indonesia where they
roast their dead and store them rather than
bury corpses
The village is called Wogi and is owned
by the people of the Dani tribe in New
Guinea
The only way to get to Wogi is via air
travel because there are no roads there
Tribe chief, Eli Mabel posing for
photographers with his mummified ancestor,
Agat Mamete Mabel, outside a typical home.
Photo: Daily Star UK
A village has been discovered in Indonesia
where the dead are not buried but roasted
over an open fire and kept as mummies for a
long time.
Daily Star UK reports that the “ Dani people
from the central highlands of western New
Guinea, Indonesia, have been able to preserve
their dead for centuries with smoke”.
Though it reports that the technique is no
longer in use, a tribe in Wogi – a village
close to the regional capital, Wamena – has
held on to a number of mummies which it
refused to bury.
According to tradition in that region, smoking
someone over a fire for weeks, or even
months, is the ultimate show of respect for
the deceased in Dani culture.
In recent years, this bizarre culture has
brought tourists to this isolated part of
Indonesia, more than 2,000 miles from the
capital, Jakarta.
Daily Star UK reports that “Visitors can also
get a glimpse of Dani traditions at Baliem
Valley Festival, an annual event with mock
battles between tribes.”
The Dani tribe was first encountered by
explorers in 1909, when they played host to
a Dutch expedition in one village for several
nights.
One part of the tribe, the Grand Valley Dani,
remained undiscovered until 1938 when an
American spotted them from a plane.