A nearly four-minute video clip that shows members of a tribal group in Brazil burying two children alive has gone viral online especially in the social networking site Facebook. As of this writing, a copy of the video already has over 25,000 shares on Facebook. In the video, a man from an Indian tribe is shown digging a whole near a tribal village. Around him are children and adults probably from the same tribe.

After digging the hole, the man then got hold of a young boy and laid him on the dug hole. The man is also shown seemingly hitting the kid on the head with the handle of a machete probably to knock him unconscious. After covering the young boy with soil, another child is brought to the hole and buried alive while other members of the community watch.

The question now is "Is the video real?". The video is a clip from a 30-minute movie directed by David Loren Cunningham that was released in 2008. Survival International, a human rights organization that campaigns for the rights and welfare of indigenous groups and uncontacted people from around the world, came out with a statement saying the film is fake and that the earth covering the children's faces are actually chocolate cake. The organization added that "the film's claim that infanticide among Brazilian Indians is widespread is false".

Whether the video was staged or fake or not, the practice of burying children alive among Indian tribes in Brazil is true. According to an article published in The Telegraph, "The tradition is based on beliefs that babies with any sort of physical defect have no souls and that others, such as twins or triplets, are also "cursed"." So the practice is indeed true. However, as to the claim of the video that hundreds of children are being buried alive every year, there's no proof to it.

Yes, the practice is true but the numbers being claimed in the 30-minute movie is rather misleading. Among the tribes in Brazil that were reported to be practicing the act are the Suruwaha tribes.