Fabbricare antenati

This article aims to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between seniority and rituality by analyzing the practices involved in the "making" of ancestors within the specific Antemoro context (southeastern coast of Madagascar). The reflection centers on the process defined as "ancestralization," meaning the construction of ancestral status according to socially recognized and shared criteria of "ancestrality." Not only funerary practices, but the entire life cycle, appears marked by ceremonial rituals, whose proper performance is crucial for completing the transition from elder to ancestor. Within this framework, the analysis of the Arabico-Malagasy sorabe manuscript tradition offers an original perspective, helping to identify recurring and meaningful representations of ancestors, expressed through a form of rituality that can be defined as "literary". Between the "de-individualization" of the ancestral figure, progressively detached from human traits, and the "hyper-individualization" emerging from genealogical emphasis, a powerful cultural system takes shape. This system harmonizes seemingly contradictory elements and sustains social cohesion within a political and religious order where ancestors remain key protagonists.