Unusual Destinations Blog

On the surface, Madagascar is warm and welcoming, quirky and quaint. But this traditional society runs according to an intricate and ancient system of taboos or fady – some of which may seem completely bizarre to western minds.

Ah Madagascar. It’s evocative and a complete enigma when you scratch just below the surface. I can’t imagine there’s any other place on earth quite like it. It’s simply impossible to be indifferent to it. And it creeps into your heart, even if you fight it off bravely. The red island is magical, and more than a little mysterious. And the delicately woven belief system is just the beginning. It’s mostly ruled by the ancestors or razana, who play an important and respected role in daily life. Each of the 18 tribes on the island has its own curious and complicated system of taboos that govern living styles and unite each tribe in its individuality. Bizarre and fascinating to us, taboos are completely normal to the Malagasy. It’s just the way life is.

 While there are taboos for entire tribes, there are also for different families and even individual people. But the Malagasy understand each other’s ways and deeply respect each other’s beliefs, and everyone remains happy and content. In Madagascar, smiles are hard to ignore and a deep appreciation of life is a harsh lesson in anti-materialism. Money definitely doesn’t bring happiness, because the humble Malagasy are the happiest, warmest people I’ve ever had the honour of meeting. They are not a rich nation, but a truly wealthy one.

Chicken legs and boy’s clothes

Between June and September, the ruling Merina tribe and the Betsileo practice regular bone turning ceremonies to honour the dead and commune with them. They also believe it’s taboo to sing while you eat, unless you want your teeth to grow long. And, you should never hand someone an egg directly, it must first be placed on the ground. While the Merina don’t hold funerals on Tuesdays because they believe then somebody else may die, the Tsimihety tribe believe funerals are quite acceptable on Tuesdays, but then working on the land is not. At a meal, the Merina give chicken legs to the children, whereas the Antankarana keep these for the father of the household. For them it’s also taboo for a girl to wash her brother’s clothes.

In the rainforest of Ranomafana, the Tanala don’t practice bone turning but honour the dead by erecting family graveyards deep in the forest. These Vatolahy are simple rows of standing stones, reminiscent of Stonehenge, with the biggest headstone depicting the richest ancestor. The living family visit the site regularly to discuss problems, ask advice and tell village news, and they bring along food and drink to share with the ancestors. Moss is respectfully cleaned from the headstones with zebu cattle fat, after which blood and rum is left behind as an offering. It is the village medicine man who chooses each headstone, which is then dragged all the way from the village on a specially chosen vine – because it’s taboo to carry the stone.

Totems and Erotic Art 

In the south, tribes carve wooden totems that depict scenes from the life of the deceased, and tombs are always more elaborate than homes. At funerals, zebu cattle are slaughtered too, sometimes up to 50 at a time. Living along the west coast of Madagascar, the Sakalava are fishermen and mariners, but their burial practices are, well, quite different to any others. They dig graves into the ground and surround them with handcarved palisade fences. On each cornerpost are wooden carved figures of the most erotic kind, and in every contorted position of the Karma Sutra. No maintenance is done on the woodwork, because they believe that only when it falls apart completely is the soul of the deceased released and free.

 Taboos exist across all tribes and ironically have benefited the island’s lemurs. It is taboo to kill or eat lemurs, which is possibly why they still exist and are actively conserved in Madagascar. For the Sakalava it’s also taboo for a pregnant woman to eat fish or sit in a doorway. In a show of respect, the Antandory people forbid children to call their father by his name or to refer to any part of his body by its usual name. They never talk of his head, but rather of ‘the top of him’, and his feet are ‘that with which he walks’. And others believe you should never ask for salt directly, but rather request ‘that which flavours the food’. Spades used for grave digging should always have loose handles, so there isn’t direct connection with the dead.

 Pregnant women in the Antanosy tribe also dont sit in doorways, talk to men or eat brains. And childless people should not overnight in her home either. This tribe won’t eat meat at funerals and they have the quirky practice of only allowing butt naked men to open tombs. When corner posts for a new house are being dug, it must be done – rather uncomfortably – sitting down.

Little Men with Long Hair

Ghosts and mermaids are part of normal life for the Betsimisaraka people of the east coast.  And they also believe in Kalamoro, which are little men with long hair that live wild in the forest and steal rice from kitchen pots. Brothers and sisters may not shake hands and young men also don’t wear shoes while their father is still alive.

Planning the Week

And it gets more complex, with the system of destiny that operates alongside the taboos. Called vintana, it governs time – when it’s good and bad to do certain things. Because Sunday is God’s day, it’s not a day for rest but for work – because it will succeed. Monday, however, is not a good day for work, unless you’re building a house, and Tuesday is bad for burials but good for exhumation. Funerals are for Wednesdays and Fridays, and weddings for Thursdays and Saturdays.

With that out the way, the days of the week also have colours and associated taboos. Monday and Thursday are black, so people avoid black objects and don’t eat dark coloured food. They may even sacrifice a black chicken to keep bad at bay. And for the rest of the days of the week, there are similar rules. Luckily, the gracious Malagasy don’t expect foreigners to know all their customs, so tourists are forgiven if they commit a taboo. More easily understood to the western mind are the systems of tody and tsiny. They are similar to the principle of karma, which says that for every action there is a corresponding reaction. So the Malagasy live by ‘doing unto others what you would have them do unto you’.

Taboos exist across all tribes and ironically have benefited the island’s lemurs. It is taboo to kill or eat lemurs, which is possibly why they still exist and are carefully conserved in Madagascar. Importantly, if you ever experience an earthquake while visiting Madagascar, don’t be afraid – it’s simply the whales bathing their children.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 3:31 pm and is filed under Newsletter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.