Crucial Interventions: An Illustrated Treatise on the Principles & Practice of Nineteenth-Century Surgery

Richard Barnett studied medicine before becoming a historian. His writing has appeared in The Lancet, The London Magazine, and The Natural Death Handbook. He is the author of Medical London: City of Diseases, City of Cures and The Sick Rose. 

The Dead Babies' of Guatemala

Vultures circle overhead as the decomposed bodies of babies are pulled from their 'final' resting places and thrown carelessly into plastic bags. Each year, Guatemala City's cemetery workers use sledgehammers to break open crypts belonging to babies and children, simply because their poverty-stricken families can no longer afford the $24 rent on the plot. In a heartbreaking series of images, photographer Saul Martinez sheds light on the country's forgotten children destined for a mass grave at the edge of the city's rubbish dump.

Six years after the body of an adult or a child is laid to rest in the main cemetery in Guatemala City - the capital of the Central American country - relatives must pay $24 to cover the cost of the plot for four more years. If they are unable to pay, the crypts are smashed into and the coffins, some tiny and decorated with white satin, are prized open. The little corpses, still dressed in the clothes they were buried in or swaddled in blankets, are ripped from the boxes and rolled into bundles. Grieving relatives can collect the bodies, but often they are just wrapped in plastic bags before being disposed of in a mass grave. 

The decomposed body of a baby wrapped in the blanket

A doll, bottle and blankets discarded after being removed from a coffin at Guatemala City cemetery

Cemetery workers use sledgehammers to break into coffins removed from tombs.

A cemetery worker holds the body of a baby in his arms after it was pulled from its tomb

Maria Gomez received the remains of her son, who died in 1983. He was exhumed and moved to a cemetery closer to her home

Tiny coffins, adorned with satin, are loaded on a wheelbarrow and as children's bodies are stuffed in plastic bags

A girl reaches up to place flowers next to the crypts.

The yellow and navy blue dress of a child who was buried at the cemetery is held up by one of the men who exhumed her.

Tombs, which once contained loved ones, lie vacant

Bodies are bagged up and unceremoniously dumped into a mass grave 40 meters down

Vultures circle overhead as the bodies of babies are removed from their crypts and dumped in plastic bags at the cemetery.

Photo series credit: Saul Martinez 

via The Daily Mail

Ma'nene Ritual - Corpse Cleaning Part II

For every three years, in a bizarre ritual which dates back hundreds of years, islanders pay respects to deceased relatives by digging them up, cleaning their corpses and dressing them in their favourite clothes. For the Torajan people, an ethnic group indigenous to the mountainous region of Tana Toraja, the Ma'nene festival is a celebration of life. The Ma'nene festival, translated to 'the Ceremony of Cleaning Corpses', see the dead exhumed, groomed and dressed. It is a mark of respect to strengthen bond between life and death. Their coffins are replaced or fixed while relatives parade them around the village, following a path of straight lines. They believe the paths connect them with Hyang, a spiritual entity with supernatural power that only moves in straight lines. The vast majority of the 650,000 Torajan people are Christian or Muslim but a small number still practice 'Aluk Todolo', or 'the Way of the Ancestors'. The funeral ritual is one of the most important and expensive events for these communities and some Torajans save money their entire lives for a decent burial.  

 

 All photos credit: Agung Parameswara

Via The Daily Mail

You can find other pages on this topic here, here and here

Skull Blessing in Bolivia Part II

The Day of the Skull takes place every year in Bolivia on November 8. They are decorated and taken to a cemetery in La Paz a week after All Saints Day. The skulls are cared for by the faithful who believe they give them protection. Some  skulls are handed down through generations but many are taken from abandoned graves. The human skulls or 'natitas' are displayed outside the Cementario General chapel in La Paz, Bolivia. They are surrounded by offerings of coca leaves, flower petals and cigarettes. Many of the human skulls on show are kept in people's houses during the year, and dusted off for the big day. They receive blessings and are decorated with offerings. 

Photo credit: Paul Koudounaris

Photo credit: Paul Koudounaris

Photo credit: Paul Koudounaris

Photo credit: Paul Koudounaris

Photo credit: Paul Koudounaris

Photo credit: Paul Koudounaris

Photo credit: Paul Koudounaris

Photo credit: Paul Koudounaris

Photo credit: Paul Koudounaris

Photo credit: Paul Koudounaris

Photo credit: Paul Koudounaris

Photo credit: Paul Koudounaris

Photo credit: Paul Koudounaris

Photo credit: Paul Koudounaris

You can see Part I here