Bali’s ‘Skull Island’ keeps open-air burial tradition alive, despite coronavirus pandemic
- Villagers in Trunyan, who leave bodies to decompose in the open, say it’s tourists who bring in the threat of the Covid-19 disease
- They are persisting with the centuries-old ritual even as the pandemic upends burial practices worldwide
It is a ritual they have not given up – even as the coronavirus pandemic upends burial practices worldwide with religious leaders in protective gear, cemetery workers in hazmat suits, and mourners banned or unable to comfort each other because of social-distancing rules.
Across Indonesia, funeral workers are now required to wear protective equipment and bodies are laid to rest quickly, all in a bid to prevent the spread of the deadly respiratory disease. But in Bali, local officials claim the novel coronavirus has yet to reach the remote northeast where the Trunyan live.
[The open-air burial] makes us feel connected to our loved ones
“The funeral process remains the same, but now we have to wear masks,” said village head Wayan Arjuna.
Tourists are temporarily banned from visiting for fear of them bringing in the disease, he said.
“We’re afraid of getting Covid-19,” said Arjuna, but added there was no suggestion of stopping the open-air burial process.
Unlike many in the rest of Hindu-majority Bali, the Trunyanese – who fuse animist beliefs and traditional village customs with their own interpretation of Hinduism – do not bury or cremate their dead.