Tibetan sky burial, China

The Tibetan plateau is scarce of firewood and the ground is often frozen, too hard to dig a grave, so the Tibetans practice sky burial. The deceased is simply offered to vultures as a part of the Buddhism believes in reincarnation. After days of prayer and blessings the body is taken to the sky burial site on the mountain and unwrapped. Vultures arrive and wait patiently, while the naked body is neatly sliced open by the rogyapa (the man who works the knife). As soon as he stands away from the body, the birds start to dine furiously on it. With fierce fighting and great speed the vultures strip the flesh from the bones, while pieces of human are flying everywhere. After the body is ripped for flesh, the bones and skull are crushed and mixed with barley flour by the rogyapa. The last thing to be mixed in is the brain, before the birds are invited to dine again. The last part of the ritual is to burn remain items.