Sky Burial: Stunning Tibetan Funeral Photographed In Litang, China.
This ceremony occurs three times per week in the city of Litang, China.
The lack of burning wood, at 4.000m altitude, makes cremation impossible and the locals have found an alternative way to free the bodies from earth once the soul has departed.
The vultures, accustomed by years of practice, only gather those three days of the week, performing a surreal cooperation between man and nature.
More info: society6.com
A few Buddhist Monks supervise the ritual, as the birds start to gather up
The master of ceremony starts preparing the body
The scalp is removed
Cuts are opened in the flesh, to facilitate the vulture’s work
Meanwhile, the birds patiently wait nearby
When the body is finally ready and tied to a stake, the vultures gather on it
In less than ten minutes all the flesh will be disposed
A few steps aways, the Monks are witnessing the rite
As the vultures feast, the master of ceremony prepares for the hardest part of the task
Not everything is taken care of by the birds
He will have to smash with an axe the entire remaining skeleton
The endeavour will take nearly one hour of hard work
The skull is crushed too
The same axe is used both to smash and grind
The remainings, once torn to pieces, are mixed with flour, and later fed to the birds
One daring bird approaches as the others still wait for the master to finish
Ready for more
404views
Share on FacebookWow, morbidly interesting. I have herd of the sky burial, but never in my wildest dreams did I think somebody would capture this ritual on f
Wow, morbidly interesting. I have herd of the sky burial, but never in my wildest dreams did I think somebody would capture this ritual on f
9
1