Burying Babies in the “Baby Tree”

We don’t have a set ritual for mourning the loss of the miscarriages and stillbirths.  It’s a burden often carried solely by the mother, who is left to grieve a being with no major social connections except to her.  She carried it in it’s life, death and is left to carry the grief.

There needs to be communal ritual attached to miscarriages, stillbirths and even abortions (the topic of communal ritual and abortions is something I’ll address in a later post).  But, in the West, there isn’t ritual.

There’s been attempts.  Some cemeteries have an “Angels” section.  But this memorialization is the exception and not the rule.

It’s time to change that.  I’ll repeat myself (and I’ll even use the annoying and incredibly loud cap locks): THERE NEEDS TO BE COMMUNAL RITUAL FOR MISCARRIAGES, STILLBIRTHS AND EVEN ABORTIONS.

After that brief cap locks, soapbox rant, we now return to our regularly schedule blog post.

On the island of Sulawesi, in Indonesia, newborn infants who die are buried in the trunks of giant trees. The belief is that the child’s soul will rise up into the heavens through the tree.

This process is communal, as there’s a designated remembrance spot for the community.  It involves ritual that benefits those most affected by the miscarriage/stillbirth/infant death: the mother.  And, it sanctifies a space for grieving the loss of the least in society.

Here’s some pictures:

Photo Credit: PhillipeTarbouriech

Photo credit: Mark Broens