Given how absurdly diverse human society is, customs, traditions and rituals range from the insipid to the macabre.
Here are five of the weirdest customs around the world that will make you gasp.
Dancing with the Dead
The Famadihana ritual in Madagascar followed by some Malagasy tribe is a grim reminder of how insane some traditions actually are. Famadihana is a funerary rite where people bring out the dead bodies of their forefathers from their ancestral crypts, wrap them in fresh shrouds before carrying them over their heads and going around their tombs while dancing to music.
The Malagasy people believe that their ancestors serve as intermediaries between the living and the dead and do not crossover into a new life until their bodies are fully decomposed.
Polterabend
Polterabend is a German wedding tradition which traditionally takes place in front of the bride’s home. Friends and family of both the bride and the groom come together and break dishes on the ground. If that’s not odd, it is the responsibility of the bride and the groom to clean up the mess after the guests have had all their fun.
Tossing babies
What could easily be a scene from a horror movie, an Indian custom features toddlers tossed from a 30 feet high balcony of a temple in Karnataka.
Married couples who are blessed with a baby after taking a vow at the Sri Santeswar temple in the southern Indian state, follow this terrifying 500 year old tradition in which babies are thrown of a balcony. They are of course caught by people standing on the ground with a piece of cloth. The babies are then passed around before returning them to their families. The custom has deep religious roots and is said bring good luck, health and prosperity to the infants.
Yanomami burial practice
The Yanomami tribe in South America is not quite touched by modern society. Living in remote areas in Brazil and Venezuela, the Yanomami still practice their ancient traditions and rituals.
In an astoundingly grim funeral practice, the Yanomami burn the bodies of their dead and then proceed to eat them. Well, not quite in the way you think.
The ashes from the burnt bodies, bones and flesh alike, are mixed with bananas and the mixture is turned into a soup which everyone in the tribe eats. The Yanomami believe that this ritual helps the deceased achieve eternal peace.
Blackened brides
Just like everything else they do, the Scots have their own unique take on wedding rituals. One particular custom, on the bride’s side, sees her paraded around town while throwing all things disgusting at her.
No, they don’t hate brides in Scotland. Called ‘blackening the bride’, the custom is a metaphor for the tough life she might have to go through after the wedding.
PNN
