The remains, taken as trophies by French colonial troops after the 1897 Ambiky massacre, were handed over in Paris on August 27, marking the first such restitution since France passed a 2023 law easing the return of human remains from its colonial era.
The skulls, believed to belong to King Toera and two of his warriors, arrived in Madagascar late Monday. They were received at the airport by Sakalava representatives in traditional robes, who escorted the remains, draped in Madagascar’s national flag, to a mausoleum in the capital, Antananarivo.
A solemn ceremony on Tuesday, attended by President Andry Rajoelina and Sakalava dignitaries, honoured the return of the ancestral remains.
“If we want to move forward, we must know our past, our history,” President Rajoelina said, lauding the courage of King Toera and his warriors who resisted French colonial forces.
“It is a source of pride and immense inner peace that my ancestor is back among us.”
The repatriated skull, believed to be King Toera’s, will soon be reunited with his skeleton in a tomb in Ambiky, the site of his execution 128 years ago.
The remains of the two warriors will also be laid to rest in the Menabe region after a four-day, 800-kilometre journey from the capital.
For the Sakalava people, the return is a moment of profound significance. Georges Harea Kamamy, King Toera’s great-grandson and the newly crowned Sakalava king, performed a ritual with water from the sacred Tsiribihina River to welcome the remains.
“This is a day of joy for the Sakalava,” he said, though he expressed disappointment that the skulls were entrusted to the government rather than the royal family.
Joe Kamamy, a leader of another Sakalava clan and a royal descendant, echoed the sentiment of pride.
“Having my ancestor back brings immense peace,” he told reporters, though he noted a family disagreement over the burial site, preferring Mitsinjo, where other Sakalava kings’ relics are kept.
The skulls had been stored in Paris’ national history museum alongside numerous other remains from Madagascar, which gained independence from France in 1960 after over six decades of colonial rule.
France’s 2023 legislation has streamlined the repatriation process, replacing the need for case-by-case laws to return looted artefacts and human remains from its imperial past.
The remains will be buried later this week in Menabe, closing a painful chapter for the Sakalava and Madagascar as they reclaim their history.
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