5 Most Weird Culture Around The World

No one gets suspicious when it comes to celebrations but some oddities have been going on around the world under our pure ignorance. As you know, various types of traditional practices are carried out day in day out worldwide. People are found to be pleasing either their gods or sometimes even themselves while performing them as a mere act of legacy.

They all have different reasons to celebrate deaths and births of their ancestors and newborns respectively. While some of these may not be soothing to our hearts and minds, these traditions and cultures actually are connected to a community’s historical background in the long run which has a completely different story to tell. So, here are some of the world’s weirdest traditions that are still carried out irrespective of the outlandish beliefs that are conglomerated within.

# Hair of the dead, China

This old tradition in China has been one of the weirdest traditions practiced by the Miao community. Although there are around only 5000 people left in this community, still this practice is going on strong as ever. The uncanny tradition is all about saving the hair of the dead ancestors and weaving a wig out of it. Even the females who comb their hair don’t throw away the shredded hair strands, they save it instead to weave a wig with much more collected hair over generations. The wigs are worn on all special occasions such as weddings, big feasts etc. Not only this, but the men of Maio also used to follow this practice but they gave it up since it was unmanageable when it came to men folks! Haha, that’s totally contradictory because men have much shorter hair than women and their reason is that they can’t manage it. Anyway, this tradition of the wig was preceded by wearing cow horns because a cow was seen as a holy symbol.

# Dancing with the dead, Madagascar

The Malagasy people of Madagascar perform this unusual tradition called Famadihana wherein they bring the dead bodies from their homes from the crypts and wrap them in a fresh cloth. They dance around while carrying them on their shoulders in a group with live music, oblations and great joy.

# Burial Tradition, Yanomami

This peculiar tradition of eating the ashes of the dead is practiced by Yanomami tribe residing in the Amazon rainforest. Spooky enough? Well, it surely is! The Yanomami people believe that death does not occur naturally but instead it’s an evil spirit sent by the enemy tribe’s shaman that comes for revenge to strike a person in their community. So, the loved ones in the community of the deceased have to eat their ashes mixed in the soup after 30-45 days of the cremation ceremony.

# Bride Abduction, Kyrgyzstan

It is an unusual tradition that is still continued in areas like Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Chechnya. The ritual is about a man kidnapping the woman he wishes to marry, with the help of his friends. This doesn’t only mean abduction which is a non-consensual norm but also subsumes eloping with the one you love and asking for your parent’s consent later which comes under the category of consensual.

# Toss the baby, India

This conventional tradition persisting in Karnataka involves throwing the baby (generally below the age of 2) from top of a 30 ft. temple balcony. The child is tossed from the balcony and collected by the locals in a blanket. Oops, I hope that didn’t hurt! Well, when the child is caught safely, the celebration takes place joyously.