The Cham Ahier people have kept a unique funeral practice for centuries: they turn nine pieces of the forehead bone from a cremated body into sacred relics. Learning how these relics travel from metal boxes to a special cemetery shows the community’s deep respect for ancestors.

After a death, the community carefully selects nine forehead bone fragments from the ashes, cleans them and polishes them into rounded shapes. These pieces are then placed in specially crafted metal Klaong boxes, which are kept with great care.

Each Klaong box is covered with Cham script that records the deceased’s name and title. The inscription makes the box a sacred relic and also a historical document that can be studied by researchers.

When a multi‑year mourning period ends, the boxes are moved in the Kut burial ritual to a clan cemetery. In the cemetery the boxes are arranged according to social rank and royal lineage, and the site follows strict architectural rules—such as the number of steles and decorative motifs—that signal religious rank and royal ancestry.

Researcher Nguyen Ngoc An documented these practices. He cited the 19th‑century official Po Kai Taong’s metal Klaong box as an example, and he also described a recent ceremony that transferred 51 Klaong boxes to a Kut burial compound.

These traditions show how the Cham Ahier community preserves both the physical remains of ancestors and the memory of their social status. The ritual connects present families with centuries‑old cultural identity.