The Funeral

Note: I have broken out the funeral into multiple entries to get around the 20 photo and two video limit per footprint. Also, the geographic location of the funeral depicted on this footprint may not be accurate.

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Our next stop was the one I had been anticipating the most: there was a big funeral going on that day! Anto first drove us to a funeral that looked pretty modest. He quickly ascertained that we were at the wrong funeral, and we made our way to the correct one. This was a sizable funeral for two siblings - one male and one female - of noble birth. The man had been dead for over a year, his sister for a few months.

I was first introduced to a representative of the family and I handed him a white envelope containing a note that Anto wrote introducing myself, along with a cash offering. I wanted to at least ask him the names of the deceased, but my Indonesian failed me at that moment.

The foreigners were then led to a platform and provided with lunch. We ate with our fingers. Lunch was rice, a pork dish, and anchovies tossed with shaved coconut and chilies. It was a really good meal.

My YouTube video of the funeral highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBXUIJC97CQ&amp…;
https://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulaw…Read more