KUPASONLINE.COM — Ammateang or the Death Ceremony, which in Bugis tradition is a ceremony carried out by the Bugis community when someone in a village dies. Families, close and distant relatives, as well as the people around the deceased person’s home environment flock to visit him.
Mourners who attend usually bring a sidekka (donation to the bereaved family) in the form of items such as sarongs or necessities to take care of the corpse, besides that there are also those who bring passolo (envelope containing money as a sign of condolences). The corpse has not started to be taken care of such as washing and so on before all its closest members are present.
It was only after all of his closest relatives were present that the corpses began to be washed, which was generally done by certain people who were used to washing corpses or by their own family members.
This was still in accordance with Islamic teachings in the procedure for taking care of the corpse in terms of washing it until praying it.
There are several things that need to be done when washing a corpse, namely mabbolo (to pour water on the corpse accompanied by reading prayers and tahlil), maggoso’ (rubbing the body parts of the corpse), mangojo (cleaning the anus and genitals of the corpse which is usually done by one of the a family member such as a child, younger sibling or by their parents) and mappajjenne’ (throwing the last bath water as well as making ablution of the corpse).
