Echo Valley and Hanging Coffins

I found it weird, having coffins hanged on a rock wall. I was even feeling uneasy when our tour guide showed us some of the graves at their local cemetery. I don't want to disrespect the dead of course nor our tour guide but I also can't help but think why they were showing these people's graves when I don't even know them?

It's nice that the weather here in Sagada is cool. I like the pine trees and all the other trees around us during our walking tour.

What we were curious about were the hanging coffins that's why we booked a tour. But my husband and I kept our cool and just followed our tour guide. He showed us the echo valley. We stood on top of a rock and shouted.

Just after a few minutes of walking, we finally reached what we came for! Hanging coffins! These are elderly locals who decided to do the traditional ceremony and burial. The tradition here is still very alive. Any local would decide when they are still alive how they want to be buried. That's a reminder that death is inevitable and they have made their preparations!

The dead bodies are seated in a chair and in a fetal position. They believe that since we came into this world in a fetal position, this should also be our position when buried, that explains why their coffins are shorter, some of them. Some would prefer not to sit on a chair. Some would ask that their chairs are included in the burial thus you can see there's a chair in the rock wall too.

It's bizarre but that's tradition, and respect is needed. While this ceremony is still present today, only those who are real locals can be given this ceremonial. On the day of the burial, the local government of Sagada declares it as a holiday, no work or school during those days.