The Unruly Dead: Spirits, Memory and State Formation in Timor-Leste

It is 4 p.m. on All Souls’ Day, the 2nd of November 2019, a
time when it is customary for East Timorese to return to their
home villages to remember and care for their dead. In the public cemetery in
Natarbora, a posto (subdistrict) in the hinterlands in central Timor- Leste, a
Catholic mass for the dead is about to begin. Although it is late in the afternoon,
the sun is fierce and I try to find some shade under a spindly acacia tree. Hundreds
of people have gathered in large family groups around the graves, which,
for the most part, are simple cement constructions scattered in an eclectic fashion.
Having been cleared of weeds the day before, the graves are neat and tidy;
many are adorned with flowers and the remnants of candle wax. Pickup trucks
and minibuses continue to arrive from other parts of the municipality and from
as far away as Dili, with loud music blaring from their speakers. People spill out
holding brightly colored baskets containing bunches of (mostly plastic) flowers,
bua malus (betel nut) flower petals, and candles.