Dancing with the Deads to Keeping them for Months at Home, Here are the World’s Weirdest Traditions
From Africa To India, Here Is A List Of 6 World’s Weirdest Traditions That Will Make You Go WTF!
All human cultures and civilizations have their customs. Many of you might have seen such rituals on TV, and many of you might have been a part of such rituals. Though the origin of the cultures and customs is hard to find, they are often linked with the tribal traditions. Many of them are taboo for us, many of them are scary, and many of them are exciting. We have made a list of the world’s weirdest traditions that will make you go crazy.
1. Living With Dead Bodies
As scary as it sounds but it is true. People of the Toraja region of Sulawesi in Eastern Indonesia follow a centuries-old tradition where the families keep the bodies of their deceased members with them for weeks, months, and even years. Not only this, they believe that the dead are still alive and keep them before a funeral takes place. They bring food, water, cigarettes, and wines to the dead. They wash them, change their clothes, and do not leave them alone.
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According to the Torajan belief, the souls leave the Earth only after the funerals. The funeral is carried out with the sacrifice of buffalos. Buffaloes are believed to be the carriers of the soul into the afterlife, and as many as buffaloes can be sacrificed at once to make the journey easier for the deceased.
2. Leblouh – Force-Feeding Young Girls To Make Them Look Attractive
In any part of the western world, a perfect shape would be described as a flat belly. But in the region of Mauritania, the natives follow the years-old practice to make the girls big, attractive, and eligible for their ‘marriage.’ In the Mauritanian practice, they start force-feeding girls as young as 5-year-old to find her a decent husband. In a study, it was found that 70% of Mauritanians over 40 thought leblouh was necessary for marriage.
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The girls are forced to consume high calories food, including camel milk, millet, eggs, and butter. The amount of calories is ten times what is recommended for girls of their age. If a girl refuses to consume the food, she is tied with ropes and tortured physically with “toe squeezing.” They believe that the big fat girls are more desirable, a Mauritanian man prefers a ‘fat woman.’
3. Famadihana – Dancing With The Dead
Sounds weird, right? But that’s what the article is all about – the world’s weirdest traditions. In the parts of Madagascar, the Malagasy people celebrate reunions with their dead. The sacred ritual is celebrated for two days once in five to seven years when the Merina tribe digs out the remains of their ancestors. The Merina tribe then offer drinks and dance with them, carrying the corpses on their shoulders. Not only this, the tribals, then talk to them and share their daily life, problems, and everything. They request their ancestors to convey their messages to God since they believe that the deceased is an intermediate between humans and God.
4. Uttarakhand’s ‘Bagwal’ – The Stone-Pelting Festival
Known as ‘Dev Bhumi,’ Uttarakhand is famous for its cultural values and pilgrimage. Bagwal is an annual ritual that occurs during the Hindu festival of Rakshabandhan in the Devidhura temple of goddess Varahi (Barahi). During the annual fair, the Bagwal is played between four groups throwing stones at each other while protecting themselves with a wooden shield.
According to the legends, people would offer human sacrifice to goddess Varahi in ancient times. One such year, an old woman had to send her only grandson for the sacrifice. As she prepared her grandson, impressed with her devotion, the goddess spared her grandson’s life on the condition that an equal amount of human body’s blood should be offered to her. Since that day, the tradition of Bagwal has been celebrated.
5. The Crocodile Scars
The Chambri tribe of Papua in New Guinea follows a scary practice. The tribal groups are scarred with marks of the crocodile on their body to attain the full status as a man. They believe that Sepik people descended from the crocodile and emerged from the river as humans to walk on land. There is no set age for the rite, some people get it done during their adulthood, and some send their sons as young as 5-year-old for the rite.
6. The Headhunters Of Nagaland
Many of you might have heard of the Konyak warriors of Nagaland. The tribal group was famously known for the head hunting of their enemies. Konyaks were known for their headhunting history to resolve their Territorial conflicts between rival tribes. They would behead their enemies and bring back their heads as trophies in special designed baskets that were built for the battles. The heads were then displayed on the doorways of the warriors.
The practice was banned by the government in 1960. Even today, you can find the last remaining Konyak warriors with their tattooed faces, large ear piercings made of animal horns, and wearing hats made of hunted wild pigs’ horns, hornbill feathers, and wild boar’s hair.
