Burial practices differ in all parts of the world. Humans have thought of various ways to secure hope for an afterlife, including building pyramids, Stonehenges, churches, and temples.
One of the strangest and most touching burial practices exists in Indonesia with the Tana Toraja tribe – the tree of the dead children. The Tana Toraja have many specific burial habits and are well-known for them throughout the island of Sulawesi and beyond. They seem to care more than others, and their regard for their dead children is particularly special.
When a child is stillborn or dies in its earliest days of childhood in the Tana Toraja region, they are not buried in a normal grave. Instead, a hole is opened in a special, venerated tree in the jungle and the small child is placed in the opening. The little tree grave is covered with much care and usually the tree heals over the wound inflicted on its stem. Thus, the tree, in some way, lives the life of the child that should have lived but did not. The tree is used for many such burials over time until it eventually dies. After having lived the life of many little beings entrusted to it for many years, it remains in the middle of the jungle of Sulawesi.
U.C. Ringuer
Archaeology Mysteries 