Tibet to protect celestial burials by law

(ECNS) -- The Regional People's Congress of Tibet, the local legislature that concluded its annual session on Friday, has passed a bill to protect traditional celestial burials, Xinhua news agency reported.

The rule would cover the ceremony itself, administration of the burial platform, protection of the surrounding environment and certification of professional practitioners.

A member of the standing committee of the local People's Congress, said the bill would be submitted to a special committee in charge of ethnic and religious affairs for review.

It was added that this would be the first time the autonomous region decides to protect the sacred rite.

Notices, directives and provisional regulations to safeguard the tradition were implemented in the past, including a document released jointly by two departments in 2013.

Photographing or making videos of celestial burial scenes and publishing archive images or descriptive text is currently banned, according to a 2005 provision.

During celestial burials, practiced for more than 1,000 years, practitioners feed a dead body to vultures, which are called 'holy eagles'.

The civil affairs department of Tibet has invested nearly 1 million yuan ($160,000 ) into the maintenance of burial platforms. Statistics show there are currently 1,068 such burial platforms and 1093 practitioners in the region.