Woman Proudly Shouts 'This Is My Father' As Indonesia Death Tribe Opens Up Coffin

Warning: Graphic images ahead

A Youtube documentary on an 'Indonesian Death Cult' shows the families living with their relatives after they pass away.

In one especially powerful scene, Fearless&Far host Mike Corey describes the moment a woman approached him to point out that the dead person in front of him was in fact her father.

YouTube/Fearless&Far

The film sees Corey travel to the village of Tana Toraja, which has been dubbed the 'Land of the Dead', to discover for himself how the inhabitants grieve after loved ones pass.

In this specific community of Toraja, it is their tradition to preserve the memory of the dead by preserving their bodies in a manner that they are still alive. 

As Fearless&Far's documentary shows, the locals believe that after death, the soul remains in the house they previously lived in.

YouTube/Fearless&Far

To ensure that the bodies of their relatives do not rot and decay, they are coated in formaldehyde and water, with dried plants also kept nearby to mask the pungent odor.

These bodies are then eventually buried, however, in a ritual known as ' Ma'nene' ('care for ancestors'), which takes place in August every year, they are once again brought out from their graves.

The documentary captures Ma'nene firsthand, where the dead are taken from their coffins, cleaned of insects and dirt, and given new clothes by their relatives and the rest of the village.

YouTube/Fearless&Far

It is during one of these ceremonies that Corey met the woman whose father was brought up from his grave for the first time after his death.

Recounting what she told him, the filmmaker says: "When they opened this coffin here, one of the ladies came over to me and grabbed me by the arm and pulled me closer and said 'this is my father'.

"She had a huge smile on her face, and she wanted me to capture the moment on film because she has not seen her father since he passed away so long ago."

Photographer Claudio Sieber, who traveled to the village last year, helps shed some light on why the locals continue with the morbid custom.

He stated via Escape: "In Toraja it is customary to feed the deceased every day and to keep the corpses cosily bedded in a separate room of the home until the family can afford a proper funeral, which easily costs 50’000 to 500’000 USD depending on the caste of the family and how may buffalos they have to sacrifice."

Not only this but the people in the village believe that this delayed burial also helps them in the grieving process.

A grieving Torajan woman in the Fearless & Far film said: "My mother died suddenly, so we aren’t ready yet to let her go."

The channel's original video, titled 'LIVING A WEEK with the DEATH TRIBE of Indonesia', has racked up 4.6 million views since it was first uploaded in October last year.

Following this unique tradition, the Torajan village has become the center of attention among tourists too, with many flocking to the area to attend the Ma'nene ceremony.