Before travelling | During your journey
Holidays & Festivities
Besides to 1st May, Christmas, New Year´s Day and other Catholic holidays like Easter and All Saints Day, Malagasy celebrate their independence on 26th June. 30th December is also an important public holiday, since Malagasy celebrate then the Anniversary of the Republic of Madagascar. On 29th March Madagascar memorializes those who died in the rebellion of 1947 against French colonization.
 Fitampoha festivities in Belo-Sur-Tsiribihina © Madagascar tourisme |
The traditional religion of the
Malagasy is based on reverence
of the
ancestors, or razana. The cult is perhaps best known through
bone-turning ceremonies, or famadihana, where remain of a selected
relative are exhumed, passed among the guests and filled in on all the
latest development. These are joyful occasions, including much
partying, drinking and dancing. Some Merina and Betsileo families are
now accepting tourists at their famadihanas, but be sure to arrange
this in advance – one family might be happy to have guests
and
allow you to take pictures, but another family at a tomb a few metres
away may be against it. Depending on each family, the Malagasy
celebrate this event between once a year and once in ten years, with a
party that can last three days during which some families spend their
whole savings. During Famadihana, most families have a little parade
along the street (to show to the dead what has happened in the
meantime), where they carry the dead body along, often accompanied by a
brass band. Best season to see Famadihana is August, September and
October.
Music festivals are celebrated in May or June in Nosy Be (Donia music
festival) and in November or December in Tana (Gasyfara music festival).