The tombs, scattered here and there in Antananarivo, are hundreds. The oldest date from the Vazimba period towards the end of the 16th century. Only 20% of them are still maintained by the families of the descendants of the deceased. A conference was dedicated to this Malagasy architectural heritage “Tombs and Men in Antananarivo” at the Museum of Photography.
as reported from Antananarivo, Sarah Tétaud
In stone, erected to reflect the social position of its owner, the tomb is also the eternal home of the soul of the deceased. In the capital, however, four out of five graves are in an advanced state of decay, says historian and professor at the University of Tana Raivolala Rahelison.
“The origin of this state depends on their age, but also because of the municipality’s decision during the colonial era to close them permanently from the 1920s. At that time there was an epidemic of plague. So this decision was made for health reasons. And from this period, the descendants were forced to build elsewhere, outside the capital. And construction elsewhere has resulted in tombs being abandoned, hence the current decay. “
►Listen too: Rendez-vous culture – On Quai Branly, discover the history of Madagascar
According to the researcher, there are currently two major obstacles to the maintenance of graves of descendants. “Those who still know the links (with the deceased, the editor’s remark) are cooled by the council’s administrative burden to get the right to renovate, the consent of all descendants. There is also real estate pressure as most of these graves are now in commercial districts. It is not the graves that are worth the money, without the land on which they stand. ”
Complex work and … sometimes scary
Guy Rabezato’s family wants to restore the family’s Labradoric tomb located on the outskirts of the capital. Freestone and the arcades are from the 19th century and crack, the raised stone at the entrance to the room begins to tilt:
We tried to find workers for this type of work, and we encountered a technical problem because none of the workers we contacted, and God knows if some already had decades of experience in the field. domain, no one had ever maintained a tomb of this kind. “
The family also encountered another problem, culturally, this time: “This tomb has a certain reputation. There are many workers who did not want to touch our grave, probably because the main ancestor buried there seems to be “masika lolo”, that is, his spirit can be easily punished. It is a culture that continues to this day, making it difficult to rehabilitate. ”
To avoid this gradual loss of the Malagasy cultural heritage, historian Raivolala Rahelison recommends that the state and municipality abolish the payment of rights to descendants. But that they also impose the renovation of these tombs.
► Read also: Looting of graves in Madagascar
.
