One thing that makes humans different can sometimes be traced to how we were raised. In different homes, there are practices that are peculiar and unique. The same applies to tribes, and their rituals and/or traditions.
Around the world, you would encounter many different rituals and practices. Some may have you gobsmacked while others would leave you wondering how possible it is for something thus bizarre to be practiced.
However, it would interest you to know that these practices date back many centuries. Some haven’t evolved with the times but instead, continue to be practiced by the natives of such tribes.
Another interesting aspect of some of these rituals and traditions is the fact that some tribesmen (and women) in the diaspora make their way back home when the time for their festivities draws near.
Here are some of the Most Bizarre Rituals Around the World
1. Indian Tribe that Consumes Human Flesh and Drink from Human Skull
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The Aghori tribe of Uttah, India is one of the most feared tribes around that region. They have a cultural practice that involves worshiping Shiva, a god of destruction. They also believe that death is a very natural phenomenon, hence, their weird ritual.
These people live in cemeteries, apply cremation ashes on themselves, meditate on corpses, and drink from human skulls.
Well, that’s not all they do that makes their tradition so bizarre.
Their beliefs that consuming human flesh has both spiritual and physical benefits to them, may be top of the list.
These Aghori people believe that eating human flesh has some sort of anti-aging benefit. They’ve never heard of Botox, or maybe, injecting their faces with toxins is just not as effective as consuming a fellow human’s remains.
Another thing they believe the carcass does is to transfer powers from the deceased to them.
If only Thanos knew this, he probably wouldn’t have stressed so much fighting armies for the Gauntlet. Anyway, at least that battle is over but this practice isn’t.
Amazingly, these people try to justify this act by claiming they only feast on the remains of those who voluntarily give their bodies for this purpose.
So, yes. Instead of donating body parts to organ banks in hospitals and trying to save the life of someone going through ‘Lord knows what’ somewhere in the country or the world, someone prefers to be eaten up.
2. Living with the Dead
The Ma’nene festival is an Indonesian festival where the Torajan people dig up bodies of dead relatives, clean them up nicely, let them dry, then dress them well, and spend a lot of time with them.
Like an archeologist digging out a treasure, you know.
Apparently, this tradition was derived from both indigenous and Christian ideals and is greatly revered.
We may have watched Coco, the Disney animation, and wondered what sort of practice the Hispanic people engage in but it certainly isn’t so different from this.
That Mexican tradition entails organizing a grand celebration with the souls of their loved deceased popularly known as Dia de los Muertos. There are decorations and the availability of feasts of all kinds.
It is even believed that the bridge between the living and the dead is opened on said day so the souls of the dead come to join in the celebrations on earth.
Another similar tradition happens in Madagascar amongst the Malagasy people. This tradition is known as the Famadihana and it entails exhuming the bodies of dead relatives, wrapping them up nicely, and dancing with them to live music.
Again, it is supposedly a way for the living and dead to maintain a connection.
3. Hanging Coffins
Please don’t ask what is up with us and death. It just so happens that most bizarre traditions around the world involve something with the dead.
In China’s Yangtze River area, there is this tradition of hanging coffins about 33 to 164 and even over 300 feet high off cliffs.
This practice has been part of the Yangtze people for over 2000 years and these coffins are often viewed as artifacts as much as the culture is considered sacred.
Visitors, including you and I still don’t know how they manage to get the coffins that high up but ‘when there is a tradition, there is a way’.
If you’re wondering if the suspended coffins are usually empty, the answer is ‘No!’. Of course, they wouldn’t go through such heights (pun intended), for nothing.
Their beloved is usually in the coffins and ‘buried’ in the air, instead.
There is also another tribe I’ve heard of where their loved one’s corpse is chopped and decorated on a mountaintop. Probably as a way of passage or paying respect but between you and I, we know it’s the vultures that feast on those carcasses and they believe this is an act of kindness – keeping carcass for vulture, that is.
Let’s keep it moving, though.
4. Carrying Wife on Hot Coal
Finally, away from all the crazy things that happen when someone dies. Here is something not so cool.
Some traditions in China mandate husbands to carry their wives over burning coal on bare feet. According to this tradition, this practice assures the wife will have an easy delivery.
Ultimately, the act is said to be a show of how loving and compassionate the awaiting father would be to his child and the mother.
I’m certain women would love this one and wouldn’t think it’s weird but the blisters the man will have to deal with afterwards won’t agree.
5. Throwing Cinnamon at 25-year Old’s in Denmark
If you’re from Denmark, approaching 25 years of age, and still single, you may not really enjoy it there on your 25th birthday.
My advice, flee!
If you decide to stay, then get ready for a cinnamon bath by people around you.
This practice, as already stated, is done to a single 25-year-old man or woman.
Now, this tradition may have started as some sort of joke. It dates back to many years ago and started to become a thing when spice merchants would ‘forget’ to get married because they spent a lot of time traveling.
If you think ‘Oh cinnamon isn’t so bad’. Maybe try being in Denmark at age 30 and still unmarried. The tradition progresses from being bathed in cinnamon to black pepper.
That’s quite spicy for someone who isn’t hot enough to bag a man or woman. Just saying.
6. Finger Cutting of the Dani Tribe
This doesn’t sound so good, I must say and it isn’t good either but we cannot question tradition, can we?
For the Dani people of Papua, New Guinea, female relatives of a dead person get to cut off their fingers as a show of grief. Clearly, crying doesn’t cut it, here.
Uhmmmmm, we know people grieve differently but cutting off fingers is just downright bizarre.
Whatever happened to locking yourself up for days? Eating a lot, or just not taking a shower for days while simultaneously not speaking to anyone?
Again, people grieve differently, so, the Dani people have chosen their own ‘different’.
Although recent updates suggest that the tradition has been banned, rumor has it that some older tribeswomen still engage in such practice.
7. Spitting on the Couple in Greece
In as much as this isn’t really spitting, what is the chance that in pretending, someone doesn’t mistakenly…
Oh dear! Let’s not talk about that.
This traditional practice of the Greek people believes in spitting (pretend spitting) on the bride and groom, thrice, as they walk down the aisle as a newly wedded couple.
According to them, it is a practice to ward off evil from the couple and for luck. Obviously, the blessings of the priest or pastor don’t do justice to that so why not do a ‘2-factor verification’ while at it?
Anyway, it has been a traditional practice for many years and it doesn’t seem to go out of fashion. In fact, now, it doesn’t just happen at weddings. The Greeks have adopted this into other activities like baby baptisms.
We just hope no one gets to actually spit on the couple one day. Or maybe that has already happened in the past?
Why am I so interested in finding out if it has ever happened? Let’s move on!
8. Baby Throwing and Baby Jumping
Simple phobias begin to develop in children from the age of 4 so, safe to say that babies do not have acrophobia. This may also have contributed to why some parts of India like Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Karnataka engage in this crazy practice.
These people, in devotion to the Sri Santeswar Temple, throw babies off heights as high as 15 to 30 feet off the ground. Luckily, there are blankets and people waiting at the end of this journey, to catch the babies, but I just can’t help but wonder ‘What if…?’
According to these Indian tribes, this tradition is believed to bring good luck to the child. How? Maybe we would only know when we plunge a newborn or toddler off a balcony or cliff.
However, the parents, who engage in this believe they have to do this as a show of appreciation for the blessing of the newborn.
This tradition was said to have been banned sometime in 2011, thankfully, but trust natives to still discreetly continue, even after the ban.
Another ‘good luck’ practice similar to this happens in Spain. The twist here is that babies are jumped over, instead of being thrown off.
The tradition known as El Colacho, requires men dressed in red and yellow to run through the street whipping and insulting people. Then, newly born babies are laid on the streets and these men jump over them.
According to the people who indulge in such practice, it symbolizes a win over evil. Therefore, it is believed to have a Christian background, somehow.
9. Bride Kidnapping
It is a man’s world, after all so, whatever and whomever a man wants, he gets. Even if it’s someone else’s wife.
In some parts of Kyrgyzstan, kidnapping a bride, or as it is traditionally called ‘Ala Kachuu’ is a very common tradition. Might be shocking but it is their way of life.
It doesn’t matter if the woman being kidnapped wants to be with the kidnapper. I mean, if she had a choice, it wouldn’t be called ‘kidnap’ right?
Basically, what happens is that a girl is forcefully taken from her house and kept in a man’s house for days. The man then gets convinced by his family to marry her.
When I first saw this, I thought it was something similar to Niger’s Gerewol Festival and bride stealing but clearly not.
At least in the African culture, the woman would be wooed and consent to be taken away from her husband. News has it that the ‘stolen’ wife could even return back to her husband if all she wanted was a taste of someone new and not necessarily to start a new life with another man.
This, Ala Kachuu is quite different from the Gerewol Festival.
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10. Crucifixions
The strange tradition of allowing yourself to be crucified is one that Christians may be able to relate to.
This practice involves a Philippine accepting to truly be crucified as penance for sins or wrongdoings. You know, just like Jesus did many centuries back but this time, not for the sins of others.
This tradition involves an actually piercing with nails and being hung on a cross. It is usually done on Good Friday as a commemoration of the actual crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
In 2023, The Guardian news reported that 8 Filipinos were nailed to crosses as part of the Easter tradition and rituals.
Even though the Catholic church has rejected this act, it doesn’t stop the Philippines from still engaging in it.
11. The Mourning before Ashura
Still on things people do in religion’s name, if you’ve never heard of this next strange tradition, you’re welcome.
It is somewhat like the one previously discussed but in Islam, this time around.
So, Ashura is a Muslim festival that connotes the first month of the Islamic calendar and the 10th day of Muharram. It also marks the day Nuh (Noah) left the Ark and also the day Musa (Moses) was saved from Egypt’s Pharaoh. According to Sunni Muslims.
In Islam, the prophet Muhammed also fasted in Mecca on Ashura and so it became a tradition that Muslims followed, back then.
For present-day Shia Muslims, Ashura is a major event because it is a commemoration of martyrdom.
In the battle of Karbala in 680 AD, Husayn Ibn Ali al-Hussein, prophet Muhammed’s grandson, and many others were killed.
Husayn refused to accept tyranny, oppression, and injustice and this led to his death.
Because of this, the Shia Muslims mourn by observing the Muharram which is known as ‘forbidden or sinful’. During this period, they flagellate their bodies with sharp objects.
They cut their bodies, cover them in mud, and lit bonfires in the street in a reenactment of the battle where the 3rd Imam of the Shia community died.
The act of flagellating was stopped in recent times due to how harmful it is but the period is still very sacred to the Shia Muslims especially those in Iraq and Iran.
12. Penis Worshipping in Japan
Yup! This is exactly what it sounds like and believe it or not, I never thought a day would come when I would see a group of people celebrate a private part.
Well, I got introduced to Kanamara Matsuri, a celebration by the people of Japan where a huge festival for the penis is thrown.
The story behind this tradition would sound funny to outsiders but obviously, this is a very important cultural practice for them. The story told is that there was a demoness with vaginal teeth used to seduce men until she killed them.
She however met her waterloo when a temple priest used a metal penis to destroy her weapon.
So, in commemoration of this glorious victory, the streets of Kawasaki in Japan accommodate devotees carrying a large penis sculpture in a walk-through.
When I heard of penis yoga, I thought I had seen and heard it all but apparently not. There is an entire group of people who worship the penis and they are not just h*orny women.
13. Blackening
We’ve heard of weird traditions that are done to singles of a certain age, we’ve heard of the one done to a couple on their wedding day, even. But, did you know that a bride-to-be goes through some crazy rites in Scotland?
In almost similar practice, a people in Scotland practice the tradition known as ‘blackening’. This is a fancy name for throwing disgusting things like spoilt milk, raw eggs, and the like, on a bride-to-be.
So, while the Danes would bathe you in cinnamon or black pepper for being unmarried, the Greeks spit on you for getting married, and the Scots decide to shower a bride-to-be with disgusting things.
Kind of makes it hard to decide what to do and not do, no? To be single or get married? Decisions, decisions!
Anyway, it all depends on where you find yourself, luckily.
Now, ‘blackening’ actually has a meaning. It isn’t just a random bridal shower. The idea behind this tradition is to prepare the bride-to-be for the tough life of getting married and starting her own family.
So, it is basically a passage rite of some sort.
14. Bathroom Ban
If you thought blackening is strange, listen to this one…
If you are from Northern Borne and you just got married then I hope you didn’t eat a lot at the ceremony.
The Tidong people of Northern Borneo have a crazy ritual that mandates newly wedded couples to stay away from the loo.
In simpler terms, the newly married bride and her groom are banned from using the bathroom for 3 days after their wedding.
I know you just wondered ‘why’. We did too and that is why we dug deeper to understand the rationale behind this tradition.
Well, popular belief says this act, if religiously adhered to, will bring good luck to the couple.
Am I the one wondering why only the weirdest activities bring good luck?
15. Karen Tribe Women’s Giraffe Neck Quest
Women from the Kayan tribe located amongst the Myanmar people have a beauty ritual that elongates their necks. These women wear multiple brass rings around their necks and it is believed that the more rings, the more beautiful.
From a very young age of 5, these ‘giraffe’ women begin this practice so make it easier for the necks to grow longer with no qualms. As they age, smaller rings or coils are replaced with more befitting sizes, and on goes the ritual.
The theories justifying this act differ, from folklore to a beauty practice.
According to the Kayan tribe folklore, they revere dragons a lot and these women are groomed to look like their sacred dragon.
Then there is the theory that states the practice is merely a beautification used to make girls and women look attractive.
Now, I’m torn between which is more bizarre, wearing clay plates on your lower lips done by the Mursi tribe of Ethiopia, or this one.
Might be a tie.
16. You’re Not a Man Until You’ve Been Stung by a Swarm of Bullet Ants, Well, In Brazil’s Satere-Mawa Tribe
The people of the Satere-Mawe tribe located in Brazil have this traditional ‘coming of age’ rite that is so bizarre, it is painful to even think.
Young boys from this tribe are made to wear gloves filled with bullet ants that sting. As if 1 sting isn’t enough, these boys have to leave their hands in these gloves for 10 minutes and the process is repeated 20 times.
What’s more excruciating about this tradition is the fact that while at this, these boys have to dance.
Yes! They dance around while being stung by thousands of ants. Not just any ants but bullet ants. These insects were named that because their bite literally hurts as much as a bullet’s shot.
This act is supposed to test the strength and how resilient the boy child will be as he becomes a man.
I wonder how long it takes for the hands to heal and how many boys even survive this.
This rite of passage is similar to the Papua New Guinea’s Crocodile Cult rite where the boy is made to go into a Han Tambaran or hut where his skin will be cut to resemble a crocodile’s skin.
17. Phuket Vegetarian Festival
We have heard of many weird and bizarre practices from around the world in this video but nothing will prepare you for this.
The title sounds fun, yes? Especially if you are a vegetarian or just love to protect animals and probably hate seeing blood.
But… hold your horses because this vegetarian festival of the Phuket people isn’t just about eating vegetables and plants. It is horrific!
It goes by many names like the Nine Emperor Gods Festival or the Kin Jay Festival and it is an annual event. This event is common in Thailand and Southeast Asia and is majorly observed by the Chinese people in said locations.
Devotees of this tradition observe a peculiar diet for 9 days which is actually a holiday. But that isn’t all.
The crazy part is when a good number of these devotees prove their utmost devotion to the course by self-mutilating.
Now, they engage in certain bizarre practices like piercing their cheeks with swords, walking on hot coals (when you’re not carrying your wife and seeking luck from the act), or hot nails. They even climb ladders that are constructed with blades of knives.
There are many other similar practices in other parts of the world. Examples include the Thaipusam face piercing in Mauritius, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Now, there is an amazing part to this Phuket story…
After self-mutilating, these people miraculously get healed. No need for first aid, no hospital visits, nothing! This is because the practice is a religious one and they get their healing from supernatural powers.
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18. The Eskimo Funerary Ritual
It is no fun to be an old Eskimo, I tell you. Why? Because no one cares that you are old, weary, and unable to do a lot of things.
These people are not your traditional humans who would care for their old till natural factors take them. They don’t even care about a nursing home, should we say the kids are unable to avail themselves of the loving care their aged need?
For the Eskimos, when you are old and grey, you’re left to die. This, the aged actually prepare for and are compliant with.
Because they cannot help find food, which is actually a really difficult task for Eskimos, they are put on an ice float, sent out deep into the sea, and left to die there. They usually die by freezing or starving to death.
Now, in as much as I’d like to call this barbaric and outright bizarre, only the Eskimos know the reason this is greatly practiced.
They say these aged ones are actually not sent off to die and disappear but to transition into an afterlife.
However, westernization and many other new practices have greatly affected this strange tradition and it isn’t largely practiced anymore.
19. Teeth Filing
In Bali, there is a rite of passage that involves filing the teeth of adult males and females. As they transition from being boys and girls into adulthood, the Balinese have to undergo this ritual just before getting married.
It has been part of their culture since the 5th century.
The reason given for this is that smooth teeth have control over sinfulness and prevent them from being lustful, greedy, angry, and jealous.
Unfiled teeth equate to sin, savage, and animalistic tendencies.
This is like a visit to the dentist but I doubt it’s as easy and void of pain.
20. Men Get to Spend the Night in an Unmarried Woman’s House
In Bomena, there is a Bhutanese tradition of the Himalayan kingdom that allows men to look for love in a rather unconventional way.
These men secretly enter the house of an unmarried woman and spend the night with her. Now, he has to remain uncaught because if he does get caught, he’ll have to deal with 2 options;
Marry the woman or work in her father’s field as punishment. Not sure the first option is a problem anyway.
Now, where this tradition is frowned upon is when it began to pose a huge threat to women. This is because, over the years, women became susceptible to rape, and their privacies were largely invaded.
Which of these traditions and rituals shocked you the most? Is there any you would like to witness firsthand?
Trust me, there are many more bizarre traditions in the world and each one has its unique justification.
While they may seem strange to us, let us remember that it was and still is a part of their traditions. Of course, there are things we grew up doing and practicing that are also weird to other people.
