The 8 Most Bizarre Rituals In The World

The 8 Most Bizarre Rituals in the World
What are some of the most bizarre rituals around the world?
#1: Birth
We begin our search at a Muslim shrine in the Maharashtra state of India, where it is common practice to toss newborn babies off the side of a 15-meter tall temple. Observed for half a millennium, this ritual is believed to strengthen the children, give them good luck well intoadulthood as well as “courage and intelligence.”
It’s worth mentioning the babies do not fall to the ground (naturally), as followers are standing by with a large sheet to catch them.
#2: Marriage
The history of certain wedding customs are bizarre in themselves. The idea of a “best man” originated from the German states, where available women were not always great in number and many bachelors opted tokidnap a bride prior to her wedding night. The groom-to-be chose a friend, usually one trusted and strong, to defend her from other suitors.
In Scotland, however, the bride faces a whole different ball of wax before she can walk down the aisle. The practice of “blackening the bride” involves covering her with some nasty smelling things like eggs, mystery sauces, molasses, flour, whatever elsethe bridesmaids can dream up to take the pressure off of them … she must taste delicious by the end, I have to say.
The tradition varies from region to region, but for the most part, the bride or groom is covered with something smelly or sticky, bound, and driven around or left tied to a tree or lamppost. Actually, given some of the drunken-induced rituals we see in American bachelor parties, Isuppose this isn’t that bizarre. At least you won’t catch a Scot marrying a dog.
#3: Food

Phuket Vegetarian Festival, Thailand © KnowPhuket.com
In a world filled with such dangerous delicacies, it’s amazing we can still find rituals surrounding food designed to induce such pain. In this case, the Phuket Vegetarian Festival in Thailand takes the cake (SIDENOTE: there is no actual cake).
InSeptember or October every year, Thai people in the southern city of Phuket refrain from eating meat for nine days. The festival highlights, however, are its incredible masochistic rituals: men and women puncturing their cheeks with spears, knives… almost anything you can imagine, they’ve shoved through their bodies. The belief is that the Chinese gods protect followers from pain and suffering; it’sremarkable how few, if any, people bear scars following the festival.
#4: Death

Sky Burial at Ganden Monastery, Tibet © satellite360
Very few outsiders have had the chance to observe this firsthand. In Tibet, it was once a common funeral custom to dissect the body and place the pieces on a mountaintop. I suppose, in a sense, the majority of funerals throughout the world are a waste ofresources and space: we have elaborately-carved coffins, bizarre locations for our ashes (low Earth orbit being one), even specialists to beautify the body following death.
As most Tibetans follow Buddhist traditions, the goal is to provide resources to the world, even after death, i.e. offering the “unneeded” body to vultures. When China first stepped in and quelled most of the local practices, skyburials, as they are known, were illegal. Since the 1980s, however, it is still possible to observe a jhator with the permission of the family.
#5: Fire

Udappu Firewalking, Sri Lanka © indi.ca
Self-immolation is a practice best left to religious zealots and complete lunatics. Historically, using fire in rituals has been an act of purification or testing limits. Although no religion requiresits followers to set themselves ablaze (Islamic suicide bombers blowing themselves up don’t count), there are a few that encourage firewalking or walking on hot coals.
In Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples of Japan, monks, priests, and lay people can walk barefoot over smoking embers to attempt to achieve a sudden moment of clarity, overcome their fears, and get the energy flowing. A handful of...