Elite Facts Presents
Most Horrifying Traditions Around The World That Still Exist
9.
La Tomatina
The biggest tomato fight in the world.
La Tomatina, the annual Tomato Throwing Festival, held in Spain.
It is held on the last Wednesday of August, during the week of festivities of Buñol.
The participants throw tomatoes and get involved in this tomato fight purely for fun.
The theory behind La Tomatina is that in 1945, young adults who wanted to be in the event
staged a brawl in town’s main square.
There was a vegetable stand nearby, so they picked up tomatoes and used them as weapons.
The police had to intervene to break up the fight and forced those responsible to pay
the damages incurred.
8.
The bathroom ban
Weddings in the Indonesian Tidong community have traditions that are truly unique.
Perhaps the most adorable of their customs is the one where the groom isn’t allowed
to see the bride’s face until he sings her several love songs.
The curtain separating the couple is raised only after the musical requirement is met,
and then they can see each other on a dais.
But the weirdest of them all is this – the bride and the groom aren’t allowed to use
the bathroom for three days and nights after the wedding.
Tidong people believe that not practicing the three-day and night ritual would bring
terrible luck to the couple.
So the couple is watched over by several people, and allowed only minimal amounts of food and
drink.
7.
Mourning of Muharram
The Mourning of Muharram is an important period of mourning in Shia Islam, taking place in
the first month of the Islamic calendar.
Many of the events associated with the remembrance take place in congregation halls known as
Hussainia.
The event marks the anniversary of the Battle of Karbala when Imam Hussein, the grandson
of the Prophet Hazrat Muhammad, and a Shia Imam, was killed.
The event reaches its climax on the tenth day morning, known as Ashura.
Some groups of Shia Muslims join in an ardous practice that involves body whipping with
special chains that have razors and knives attached.
This tradition is practiced by all age groups; in some regions the children are forced by
their parents to take part.
6.
Hindu Thaipusam Festival piercings
During the celebration of the religious holiday Thaipusam, Hindus declare their devotion to
Lord Murugan by piercing various parts of their bodies.
It is mainly observed in countries like India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.
In Tamil Nadu, they celebrate their devotion to the birth of Lord Murugan and his killing
of Soorapadman.
They do this with painful piercings around the body, including the tongue.
Over time, the rituals have become more dramatic, colorful, and bloody, with large spears and
hooks through the chest and face
5.
Tooth Filing
One of the biggest Hindu religious ceremonies, Tooth Filling.
The ceremony is of great importance in the Balinese culture and is a significant in the
passage from puberty to adulthood.
This ritual is for both males and females and must be completed before marriage; it
is sometimes incorporated into the marriage ceremony.
This ceremony is executed by smoothing down tooth and eye-tooth.
In Hindu Balinese belief system, this celebration helps people to free themselves from all invisible
evil forces.
They believe that the teeth are the symbol of lust, greed, anger, confusion and jealousy
and the custom of filling teeth renders a person physically and spiritually.
4.
Finger Cutting
The Dani tribe is the indigenous people that inhabit the fertile lands of the Baliem Valley
in West Papua, New Guinea.
The members of this tribe cut off their fingers as a way of displaying their grief at funeral
ceremonies.
Along with amputation, they also smeared their faces with ashes and clay, as an expression
of sorrow.
They will cut off their fingers to express love to someone they love very much.
When a person in the tribe passes away, the relative like wife or husband cut off his
hand finger and bury together with the dead body of her husband or wife, as a symbol of
love to her husband or wife.
Finger represents body and soul that will always live together with his/her spouse.
3.
Dancing with the Dead
The Famadihana is a traditional festival which is celebrated in Madagascar; it is more popular
among the tribal communities.
It is a funerary tradition, known as the turning of the bones, people bring forth the bodies
of their ancestors from the family crypts and rewrap them in fresh cloth, then dance
with the corpses around the tomb to live music.
In Madagascar this became a regular ritual usually once every seven years, and the custom
brings together extended families in celebrations of kinship.
Actually it is occasion to give respect to the dead relative through the transfer of
the bones to a permanent place of abode.
The main motive behind the festival originated from the belief of the local people that the
dead return to God and are reborn.
2.
Burial Ritual
Funeral rituals for dead relatives is very important in Yanomami tribe, the people of
this tribe want to to ensure peace for the souls of dead person.
When a Yanomami dies, his body is burned.
The ash and bone powder is mixed into a plantain soup.
His people then drinks the plantain soup consisting of the dead person’s ash and bone.
They believe that by ingesting the remains of a loved one, his spirit will live within
them forever.
Every body must be cremated, because the Yanomami think that leaving a dead body to decay is
horrifying.
In addition, the soul will be unhappy if he couldn’t find a resting place in the bodies
of his loved ones.
1.
Bullet Ant Glove
The most painful Initiation ritual for the Satere-Mawe tribe of the Amazon, you can’t
become a man if you don’t take part in this ritual.
When a young boy becomes sexually mature he goes out into the jungle with the Medicine
man and other boys his age to find and gather bullet ants.
The insect with the most painful sting in the world.
The sting from these ants has been compared to a bullet hitting the flesh.
The boys will gather the ants and the ants are then drugged.
Later, while the ants are sleeping in their drug induced state, they are placed into a
woven mesh glove with the stinger on the inside.
When the ants wake up they find themselves trapped and become very angry and aggressive.
The boys must put on the gloves and keep them on for about ten minutes while they do a dance
to take their mind off the pain.
This will happen 20 times before they are considered men
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