Hanging coffins in the Valley of the Dead – Függő koporsók a Halál völgyében
Sagada is famous for its hanging coffins (koporsó) and burial (temetkezés) caves. Sagada is also said to be the Philippine Shangri-La.
For almost two thousand years people from Sagada have put their dead in hanging coffins which are nailed (szögel) to the sides of their valley, or in open burial caves scattered (szétszóródva) around the village.
The local inhabitants (lakos) believe in life after death. After a family member dies they become a spirit (lélek) wandering (vándorol) the village, watching over villagers and their remaining relatives. The coffins are hung in the valley in order to give the spirits freedom (szabadság) to leave their bodies and they believe that burying them under the ground would trap (fogságba esik) them. Most of the coffins are very small and are carved (faragni) from tree trunks (törzs) by the elderly before they die; if they are too ill or weak their son or another close relative will do the process (folyamat) for them.
The burial ritual (rituálé) involves pushing the bodies into the tight (szoros) spaces, often bodies are folded (hajtogat) and bones are cracked (eltörni) and broken. The dead bodies have to be positioned as if they were in the mother’s womb (anyai méh), as they go back to this pre-birth (születés előtti) stage (állapot) after death. After the deceased (halott) are put inside coffins they are taken to caves high in the limestone (mészkő) cliffs to impossible locations and suspended (fellógat) on the cliff’s face, where they join the coffins of other ancestors (előd). Some of the bodies are mummified (mumifikál) by stuffing (betömni) lots of salt into the mouth of the diseased.
If the dead used to be a great warrior (harcos) or a good chief (főnök), the people who carry their decomposed bodies sometimes try to catch the drippings (csepegés) because they think they would inherit (örökölni) the skills (készség) of the men passed away (meghalni).
Hanging coffins in the Valley of the Dead
In some caves hundreds of coffins are lined up (felsorakozni), located just inside the mouth of the cave (barlang bejárata). The coffins are never placed deeper in the caves, because they believe the caves are full of evil (gonosz) spirits.
There are no rules which govern (irányítani) theses burial grounds (temetkezési hely). Tourists can do as they please, coffins are being opened and it looks like the remains (maradvány) has been dug through quite extensively, and smaller bones can be found scattered all around. Some have even taken some of the bones as souvenirs, and most skulls (koponya)are missing because of this total lack of (hiány) respect of both the dead and other peoples customs (szokás) and culture.
Besides this “graveyard” (temető) there exists a conventional (hagyományos) cemetary in the village, reflecting (visszatükröz) that times are beginning to change, but a number of local people are still being laid to rest in the traditional way.
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