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Africa Horn
Plague alert over Madagascar's dance with the dead
2017-10-29
ANTANANARIVO: In Madagascar, ceremonies in which families exhume the remains of dead relatives, rewrap them in fresh cloth and dance with the corpses are a sacred ritual.

But an outbreak of plague sweeping the Indian Ocean island nation has prompted warnings that the macabre spectacle, known as the turning of the bones or body turning, presents a serious risk of contamination.

Posted by:Anomalous Sources

#6  It's been suggested that rats in prisons are the cause.
Posted by: phil_b   2017-10-29 19:42  

#5  Plague is endemic in Madagascar. Although nobody knows why the outbreak is larger this year.
Posted by: phil_b   2017-10-29 19:40  

#4  "so they invent things to get cash from lenders," said Ralisiarisoa
Yeah, nothing starts the loan officer to cutting checks like talk about a plague outbreak. (Whatever it takes to get you out of my office...)
Posted by: ed in texas   2017-10-29 14:31  

#3  What dance steps? Waltz? Tango? Foxtrot? If things get out of hand and they wind up in the hoosgaw does it cost them an arm and a leg to make bail? This is on good reason for cremation.
Posted by: Cheaderhead   2017-10-29 11:03  

#2  "Gimme a hand here?"
Posted by: Frank G   2017-10-29 09:36  

#1  The hip bone's connected to the ... thigh bone!
The thigh bone's connected to the ... leg bone!

And so on.

Except for those that fall off here and there along the way, of course.
Posted by: gorb   2017-10-29 03:43  

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