Following the success of some of our previous lists about the bizarre practices of humans through the ages (and up to modern times in some cases), we have prepared another list. This list includes only new items – excluding anything that has appeared on previous lists such as Tibetan Sky Burial or Thaipusam. In fact, we recommend you check out the Top 10 Bizarre Traditions, Top 10 Bizarre Festivals, and Top 10 Weird Religious Pratices before reading this list.
The Ainu people (an indigenous tribe from parts of Japan and Russia) are a once-suppressed ethnic minority whose religious roots are animist. Because of their worship of nature, they developed a tradition in which bears were killed in order to send their soul to heaven to bless mankind. This ritual (Iyomante) involves the slaughter of a hibernating mother bear in her cave. Her cubs are raised in captivity for two years and then fatally choked or speared in a sacramental act meant to show religious devotion. The villagers then drink the bear’s blood and eat its flesh. The skull is placed on an upturned spear which is wrapped with the bear skin. This bizarre type of scarecrow is then worshipped. The Ainu people believe bears are gods walking among humans. Unfortunately, due to a law change in Japan which revoked the ban on the ritual, it is now occurring again in some places.
Because funerals are an incredibly important aspect of life for the Torajan (an ethnic group in South Sulawesi, Indonesia), it can take many months for a family to raise sufficient funds to pay for the festivities. During this period of months, the dead body is wrapped in clothes and kept under the family home. The Torajans believe that the deceased soul remains with them until the burial. Torajan funerals are a grand affair which also frequently involve the sacrifice of buffaloes (the more important the deceased the more buffaloes are killed). When the person is finally ready to be buried for good, their coffin is usually placed in a cave and their effigy is placed at the cave mouth looking out (as can be seen in the picture above).
This isn’t just regular spitting we are talking about. The Masai tribe (an ethnic African group found in Kenya and Tanzania) have an unusual way of greeting friends: they spit on one another. Furthermore, when a new child is born, the Masai men will spit on it and say it is bad – believing that if they praise the child they will curse it to a bad life. When greeting elders, a Masai warrior will spit in his hand before offering it to be shaken – as a sign of respect. Masai tribesmen are well known through the media because of their practice of elongating their earlobes.
Fairly recent discoveries in the Vatican of old Roman burial grounds have uncovered a fascinating tradition that was previously forgotten: the Romans would eat with their dead and even feed them. Many of the graves found contained pipes that led from the outside of the grave to the body within – this was used to pour honey, wine, and other foods into the dead. Similar pipes in Roman Graves have also been found in England. Ancient Romans would often picnic at the graves of the dead as they believed they were feeding the soul of their departed loved ones. The inscription on the grave above describes the location of a food shop nearby so mourners and visitors can buy food for themselves or the dead.
The Yanomamö are a large tribe of people from Venezuela and Brazil. They have been largely untouched by modern life and so retain many of their ancient customs – one of which is the focus of this item. Yanomamö religious tradition forbids the keeping of any part of the body of the dead; for this reason, when a Yanomamö dies, his body is taken to be burned and the bones are crushed and combined with the ashes. These are then divided amongst the family and eaten. Because absolutely no part of the body must remain, the vessel that contained the ashes is then destroyed. The tribesmen believe that a person dies because a Shaman or member of another tribe has sent evil on him. This leads to much conflict and inter-tribe battles.
The limestone caves surrounding Sagada in the Philippines are home to the region’s dead. While many people are buried in the caves, a long standing tradition in the area also means that the face of the cliffs are dotted with coffins. The coffins can also be found in other places around the world – particularly China where the nearly extinct Bo People (an indigenous minority Chinese tribe) practice this tradition regularly. The Toraja people (featured in item 9) also sometimes hang coffins of young children – though wealthy adults are normally placed in caves.
To commemorate the death of Husayn ibn Ali (a grandson of Muhammad), some groups of Shia muslims take to the streets and whip themselves with specially designed chains with razors or knives attached. Other groups slit their heads open with knives (as can be seen in the image above). This awful tradition (called matam) is also practiced by children or forced on them by parents who do the cutting (as can be seen in the introductory image to this list on the front page). Matam is mostly found in Bahrain, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Iraq, and while some Muslims frown upon the practice, many major Muslim leaders endorse it.
Thousands of mourners slit open their heads with swords, big knives and razor blades streaming their blood to signify their grief over the martyrdom of Al-Imam Al-Hussein (p) – the tragedy which caused the sky to rain blood and the earth to bleed – and thus paid rich homage to Al-Imam Al-Hussein (p) who sacrificed everything in defending Islam which is today under obligation to him. [Source - including horrific images]
The Satere-Mawe people from the Amazon region of Brazil have an agonizing initiation rite for their boys. In order to become a man, the boy must insert his hand into a glove which is woven with drugged bullet ants which have one of the most painful stings in nature. The boy must wear the glove for a full ten minutes and he must do this twenty times over the course of several months. A television reporter (Steve Backshall) undertook the ordeal and described it thus:
“I put my hands into the gloves. Actually, it wasn’t that bad: pretty unpleasant, but bearable; just like the single sting, but repeated over and over again. I stuck it out for the full 10 minutes. [... M]y crew took me out of the line-up and off to get some medical tests done[.] That’s when things started to go wrong. I had suffered several hundred stings, and all of a sudden I went beyond pain. First, I started wailing, then, once that had passed, the floodgates opened — deep, guttural sobbing, uncontrollable shaking, writhing, convulsing. I started to drool, and suddenly I wasn’t responding to anything at all. My legs wouldn’t hold me up, and our doctor was shouting at me to keep moving and not to give in to the urge to lie down and let it take me. If there’d been a machete to hand, I’d have chopped off my arms to escape the pain.” [Source]
Every year in Solapur (a region in Maharashtra, India) parents get together to throw their babies off the top of a 50 foot tower. The babies are caught in a sheet held by other villagers on the ground. The parents believe that the practice will give their children long and healthy lives. This is practiced mostly by Muslims but some Hindu families also engage in it. Parents that partake are usually those who have become pregnant after praying at the Shrine of Baba Umer Dargah. Local authorities provide policing for the event despite the fact that national government is opposed to it.
The Aghoris are members of a Hindu sect who worship Shiva, whom they see as the supreme god. Because they believe that Shiva created everything – they consider nothing to be bad. For this reason they engage in a variety of sexual practices, they drink alcohol, take drugs, and eat meat. Nothing is considered taboo. But the thing that makes their ancient traditions bizarre is that they are also practicing cannibals and their temples are cremation grounds. An aghori lives in the cremation ground and is able to support himself there – his clothing comes from the dead, his firewood comes from the funeral pyres, and food from the river. When a person is cremated, an aghori will coat himself in the ashes of the body and meditate on the dead.
The most shocking aspect of the Aghori life is their cannibalism. Dead bodies that are found floating in the river are gathered up and meditated on. The limbs are then removed by the Aghori and eaten raw. If you are interested in watching a fascinating documentary on the Aghoris, you can watch an excellent one here in full. A much more in-depth article on the aghoris can be seen here on Cogitz. It also includes a link to a much more gruesome video of the cannibalistic practices.
in which beers were killed
OH NOES!
Calum: oops – thanks for the correction – it is now sorted
Very interesting list, pretty eye opening. Although, in the first one, you’ve spelt “bear” like “beer”.
Also, this is my first comment on listverse
Wow. That list was brutal! Theres a lot of fascination with death )= haha I wish I was as hardcore as some of these tribes, but I guess I’ll pass on eating the dead and killing bears…
Yeah… You really hit the nail on the head with the word “bizarre.”
That video is in the top five most unpleasant things I’ve ever seen on the net.
Rob: it was number one for me – I watched it with my hands over my eyes yelling “no no no no no!” I had to go outside for fresh air and a smoke after.
Holy shhh….. And I thought my mum’s Tupperware parties were bizarre!
Although I shouldn’t be saying this but that video comes in second for me, right after that One guy One cup video. Urgh.
uuuuuuurgh, i was fine until number 1. Thanks Jamie, i just love throwing up in the morning. I didn’t even watch the video.
Eerified guts (yes, guts) on the list yo. Traditionally I enjoy eating toenails. Not my own of course.
I tried to watch it- I can’t do it! (shudder)
Oh man, noooo way! I couldn’t resist taking a peek and now I won’t be able to get that image off my head.
Now, try watching No.1 after listening to the mass suicide video.
Interesting stuff. I like disturbing things.
I wonder why he took a bite of arm. I’ve heard that the thighs are the best part…
I’m having a massive hard right now..
Not because of the aghori video, of course. I’m watching ***** to forget about it!
JF – I’d draw your attention to ‘Tinku’ – a form of ritual battle by Andean natives in Bolivia. It appears to be a holiday festival (with picnics and religious sponsorship) where 2 seperate groups get together to kick the ***** out of each other (with occasional fatalities). It’s not, as you might think, something that young men do for bragging rights. I remember seeing scenes in a documentary (in a hotel room abroad in a foreign language) that showed mainly elderly men and women in native dress pummelling each other in the mud.
Am I the only one who wasn’t that bothered by the video for number 1?
iain – thanks for that – I was trying to track that down today but couldn’t find its name.
Spidermonkey: yes
too much!!!!
i knew about number one but i never got to watch a video of the actual thing until now. well lesson learned.
Takes all sorts to make a world I guess. And that’s nothing to do with the list, just the commenters…. Cool List!
)
jfrater: alright then, its just that the video was about 6 and a half minutes and there was very little cannibalism, and when he was chewing on that guys arm he didn’t even look like he was enjoying it. Maybe some barbecue sauce would’ve helped, or piri piri.
spidermonkey – Im with you on that, I guess to our culture things like this seem somewhat bizzare, but it wasn’t soo bad.
To The Aghoris, drinking wine with the intent that it respresents christs blood probably sounds a little strange.
Different strokes for different folks
Wow, so bizarre… the world is such an interesting place. Never seen a real cannibal on video before but I sure hope the meal was tasty for his sake.
The last one wasn’t EXTREMELY disturbing, just a bit…
18) Nah I wasn’t bugged by it either, but then I always have been called strange too.
Tedill – I’ve always been called strange too, runs in the family though.
JF – no probs – I know Wikipedia occasionally gets a bashing in these pages, but it can be really useful tracking down things you remember but can’t put a name to, using generic terminology. I didn’t have a name for ‘Tinku’ either, so I just put in ‘ritual battle’ and followed leads from there.
I know this sounds kind of wrong, but I didn’t find the video all that disturbing. I guess it is because I already knew who Shiva was and what those who followed Shiva believed. I know it sounds sick and disturbing to us, because we don’t live like that, but I’m pretty sure our lives would sound just as disturbing to them.
By the way, awesome list!
i have been brought up in a Hindu religion and that last video ( no.1) i was like wtf most Indians don’t even eat meat…
Number 1 is pretty bad i guess. but the 1 guy 1 jar video is still the most disgusting video ive seen.
After seeing Cannibal Holocaust, watching video #1 was a walk in the park… wtf is wrong with me?
#1 takes the cake (or the bone with the flesh!, if we can say that!) – i can recount an experience of my family member who witnessed an act of the Aghori dancing in a grave yard while taking the ashes from a nearby pyre and smearing it all over his body as he continued his bizzare danced.
Needless to say, that my family member fell sick and took at least 3-5 days to recover.
It’s occurred to me that gore and dead bodies – even stuff like in the cannibalism video don’t really gross me out any more. There was a time when I would be sick to my stomach at the exposure to such things but it just doesn’t disturb me like it did in the past.
- And not I don’t go out of my way to be disturbed, I’ve done my best to avoid it.
Great list, except for number one. I made a huge mistake watching that vid, I’ll never be able to eat again lol. Oh well, I guess I was warned, I’ve only got myself to blame
Haha, same here Damien. Also, agree with the couple other posts that said 1 guy 1 jar is the worst thing on the internet. It might not be the worst, but it beats this.
Exciting list though. Woot for bizarre rituals!
Could not bear to watch no.1.I have already heard of another sect that “samples” the dead bodies after cremation near the Ganges.I am somehow proud to be a Hindu.There seems to be no other religion on this planet that come close to Hinduism when it comes to weirdness.
jfrate:
I take issue with the editorializing for #10, which states that it’s “unfortunate” that bans have been lifted recently on the Ainu practice of eating bears.
In point of fact, the Ainu people have performed this rite for as long as living memory–perhaps thousands of years–and it has never been gratituous or wasteful. The Ainu lived as we all once lived–in close connection with the land and with nature, viewing it all as sacred. We in the west lost that thousands of years ago, but the Ainu, like the American Indian before the Europeans came, have never lost it, and continue the traditions that knit them INTO nature, and do not act (as we do) as something apart from nature that only feeds on it and uses it, wastefully and uncaringly.
The bear is one of the most sacred animals of all, to the Ainu, and they treat it as such. Yes, they hunt and eat bears–but that is, also, the point–the bear is sustenance to them, and gives itself as a gift for which the Ainu are supremely grateful. They treat the bear, both as meal AND as living animal, as an honored guest AND as an extension of god. This parallels the American Indian view of the buffalo (and other animals–Indians too viewed the entire living world-and the non-living world–as sacred) and many African tribal views of the animals *they* hunt.
We should not judge these people by OUR standards, we who sometimes recognize our shameful wastefulness and greed, in regards to nature. These people don’t treat nature the way we do, nor do they view it in any way like the way we view it. They are a part of it, they worship it, they pay homage to it. To stamp in and say “no you can’t do that anymore” is doing a deep disservice to their way of life which in fact has never offered any offense to nature whatsoever. Are we bothered that they kill and eat wild animals? How hypocritical can we be, when our entire culture is based on the use of animals as product and commodity, like meaningless things only there to serve our hunger, to be industrialized and consumed on a daily basis.
No, it was a crime when bans were placed on this Ainu way of life, and it’s a GOOD thing that these bans are being lifted. Let’s recognize that.
18. spidermonkey – No, I too wasn’t bothered in the least. I’ve seen much more disturbing images come out of Hollywood. That video was tame, young kids could watch it and have better dreams than I did after watching JAWS.
Religion rots the brain
the video won’t work on my work computer and now I’m freakishly curious about it…
Wow! I knew of a few of these like the Masai Spitting…that was interesting.
“Nice to meet you” Pa-toohey!
The baby tossing got me more than the video for number one. Creeped me out seeing a baby just fly through the air. However, if I am correct, no child has been hurt (not even a scratch) in all the years they have been doing this.
Also number 1 didn’t faze me. I think this might be a problem because a quick look through the comments showed that i’m not the only one. The future psychos of the the world have united on L-verse
Gee Randall, you made an impassioned speech about the Constitution “evolving” with a heavily implied perspective that it’s all been for the better. Does that not apply to other cultures?? Do you not hold similar standards for other cultures? Should not other cultures “evolve” and do away with what most would consider barbaric or, at the very least, unnecessary?
Steelman – barbaric? have you ever been to a factory farm? We treat our foodstuffs far worse than the Ainu. I agree with Randall on this one.
I am curious as to how many of those cannibals suffer from CJD or some other prion related disease? There are physical consequences to munching on our brethren and I’m going to assume that Shiva doesn’t offer protection from that. Although pretty jaded, I must admit that harvesting random floating corpses just about did me in – waste not, want not taken to a whole new level.
Steelman:
Do you know why your side of the political fence ends up being hated by more and more people every year? Because of the sort of repeated, snide little nonsense you’ve just spouted out. If it’s not smug assurance that others can go to hell, that you have god or morality on your side and yours alone, it’s that you can’t face simple political realities without turning into a whining baby about it. Another reason why I left the Republican party years ago was because I recognized that, while rhetoric on both sides of the fence is usually moronic and often shrill, it’s the Right–the far Right–that takes this to new lows on nearly every opportunity that arises.
A) If you don’t feel the Constitution hasn’t evolved, then what would you call it? And what would you claim was the desire, in this regard, on the part of the Founders? Do you know ANYTHING about Constitutional Law, or the history of the formulation of the Constitution? Have you ever READ “The Federalist Papers?” It strikes me that in fact the answer to all of these questions (if you were truthful, which I frankly doubt) would be No.
B) Rather than form a cogent argument of your own, you’d rather snipe at me like a cutesy teenager on a bad debate team that hasn’t done its homework nor does it know how to manage a proper discourse. You left unanswered most of what I originally said to you (conveniently) and are picking at little irrelevant points that have NOTHING to do with the discussion at hand–as if this pathetic sidebar actually “wins” you something. But it’s patently obvious that in fact it gets you nowhere. I NEVER claimed that the progression of matters, constitutionally, has been “all for the better,” though certainly IN GENERAL we would presume to hope so. But how is that IN ANY WAY germaine to the discussion? And what does this awkward (and rather difficult to grasp) question about “other cultures” have to do with it? What ridiculous point are you trying to make? How does that relate to OUR Constitution? The only thing I can assume is that you are mixing up, willfully or accidentally, two entirely different and unrelated points I had made earlier—one in regards to OUR constitution, and the other a philosophical point about morality. But even this blunder makes no logical sense. If you want to try and clarify it that’s up to you, but I’d just as soon you not bother, because I can’t see what the two possibly have to do with one another.
The bottom line is, you followed me here in hopes of trying to make some childish “point” to assail me with, and you’ve failed miserably because you can’t even form a coherent argument of your own.
A childish mind that has just a MODICUM of ability thinks it best to continuously seek for contradictions in an opponent’s arguments–forgetting that relevancy is still more important, and that clumsy efforts only produce clumsy results. Dragging this ridiculous constitutional argument over here to another thread where it is UTTERLY IRRELEVANT is a perfect example of that kind of blundering error.
You look a fool, and it suits you.
Bizarre lists are the best.
You know – I don’t really get that upset about what people do to themselves but I don’t care much for the bear and whale eaters of the world, but those are my feelings, my opinion.
#1 was bad, but the video wasn’t as bad as I imagined. #8 however….ahhhh! The idea of having someone spit on me as a greeting, or having to shake a wet, spit-covered hand is just about the most disgusting thing I can imagine. Thank goodness there was no video to show the Masai spitting on their young
I don’t think I could have handled that!
Oh and baby tossing?? Seriously? I held my breath every time for those poor children…all it takes is one bad fall
I’m somewhat relieved to know that I’m not the only one who wasn’t very grossed out by the cannibalism. You know what grossed me out more? Finding someone’s nail clippings on the bus last week? Why would you cut your nails on the bus, and then leave them there?
The most horrific one is the one that you ranked #10. It involves the deaths of innocent animals. None of the others are anywhere near as offensive- with the possible exception of the baby throwing one.
@Randall- I heartily agree (god I sound like a stalker now, don’t i?) After taking an anthropology course this past term in college (only my second) I have learnt a good deal about unusual practices (the male initiation rite of the sambia comes to mind) but I have learnt that they are only unusual if you take things out of context, which most westerners do out of habit. I don’t find any of these really that unusual except for the mourning of muhurran, because such injury dealt on children, especially forcibly, doesn’t fly in any context.
I didn’t know there were hanging coffins here in the Philippines…
I’m a little shaken by the cannibalism video but I’ll be fine after a few nights of nightmares…
wtf? eating corpses is better than eating bears? C’mon Scandia have a read on Randall’s comment. They worship the bears – far better treatment than any of our livestock endure. Offensive? bah.
And there has never been a documented instance of injury with the baby tossing, not one. Pretty harmless even if it does look horrible. Taking your kid out in the car without a car seat is far more dangerous.
@Scandia Proof that many animal rights activists are no better than the far right of the political system. The wholesale slaughter of animals is wrong, hunting wild animals for trophies is wrong, but a religious ritual involving sacred treatment of animal they believe is a god is hardly as wrong as the above. Are you saying that it was wrong for the native american to hunt the buffalo, who were also innocent animals? I believe that the treatment of animals as commodities is far worse than a little ritual murder here or there
Scandia:
Seriously, please tell me that you are twelve years old or something of the like. That would excuse you some. But if you’re in reality a thinking, reasoning ADULT, you have some serious growing up left to do.
I wonder if the tribesmen in #1 use A1 steaksauce on their steak shanks. It would be a great place to market condiments and such.
Hi there. Pff. I came here feeling aweful – I’ve just gotten up after having had one of those dreams thay you’re glad you woke from. I must have been sweating buckets cus now my body feels like a rung out rag. And then I read this list – avoiding the film in no1 – and felt a bit worse. And then I read Randall’s post, and feel sick.
I feel that was quite OTT Randall; beat up big guys, not small ones….
Anyway, I used to be so ‘hardened’ towards all things gruesome – having watched my share of video nasties and 18′ rated movies; to the point where I could watch horror like comedy – and would laugh insanely at it. Then something changed about a year ago (I won’t go into it), which left me with something – odd feelings. Now I flinch at the mere thought of things like that, and turn away from blood and guts like a girl (and thats no bad thing). Perhaps, for lack of a better word, I have become more sensitive towards things. Yes, I would say so.
As for the emerging debate about animals. Well I have no problem with the [insert here] of animals bred for food. Man likes meat, and so meat he/she shall have. I also have no problem with tribes taking on vast wild beats in order to encourage bravery, skill, and comradeship among those peoples; and if that is to provide food as well, fresh and in the traditional way, then ok. Preserve the past. We have lost a lot through our laziness – to merely open up a fridge and eat out of it. However, gone are the days when Man lived in small pockets dotted around the world, and in league with nature. I feel the opposite is happening, and that the arrogance of Man and our strangehold on the planet has forced NATURE into small pockets dotted around the world. Probably a hundred years ago Id’ve been empathic towards hunting tigers and lions, elephants and even bears, but today those animals are kept in reserves – to preserve their very existence. I don’t appreciate the way things have turned out. I wish I could say that’s just sentimental dross, and that really who gives a damn. But I do feel that way.
(That is just my view, my view i.e. not directed at anybody unless named, food for thought etc etc)
Gee whiz – mention a religion, ANY religion and it brings out the wordy, pompous blowhards.