(in the Torres Strait Islands) a ceremony held to mark the unveiling of a gravestone.
a tombstone opening brings together kin who may normally live scattered all over Australia
Example sentencesExamples
Most tombstone openings cost no more than $4,000, but it is estimated that one recent event cost more than $30,000.
She was pestering me to go and film the tombstone opening, so I got a crew together.
When a significant person in the community dies, the family begins saving for the tombstone opening.
Tombstone openings are an element of continuity today in a constantly changing world.
At tombstone openings Islanders appear as one, united by their Custom and their kinship.
Many individuals were found to engage in 'temporary' entrepreneurship to raise extra money for one-off cultural events like tombstone openings, weddings, sporting carnivals, and concerts.
Perhaps the most universal and powerful reminder today of the continued existence of the old spirituality is the tombstone opening.
In recent years, some tombstone openings in the home islands have assumed the status of major cultural events.