The Craziest Traditions You Will Find in Other Countries...

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I am always interested in learning more about cultures and traditions around the world. However, there are a few crazy ones that I know I could never possibly embrace! While I would love to know what crazy traditions you have come across during your travels, I thought I would start by sharing some of the ones I have either seen or heard about.

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The Craziest Traditions You Will Find in Other Countries

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1.      Baby Throwing

 

Over in India, there is a tradition of throwing a baby. For the last 500 years, babies have been tossed over the side of a temple that is 50 feet high. People below the temple catch the babies in a cloth. Couples who have taken a vow at the Sri Santeswar Temple and then give birth to a child take part in this tradition. If you want to see this tradition firsthand, you must visit Indi, which is in the state of Karnataka, during the first week of December.

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2.      Finger Cutting

 

The Dani Tribe is full of indigenous people who live within the Baliem Valley, which is located in West Papua, New Guinea. Whenever there is a funeral, the members of this tribe cut their fingers off to show their grief. The fingers are then buried with the person who died. In addition to cutting off their fingers, they spread clay and ashes on their faces.

 

3.      Famadihana Dancing

 

Over in Madagascar, there is a tradition of dancing with the dead. Famadihana is the traditional festival for when this dancing takes place. This tradition is completed every seven years, as a way to bring extended families together to celebrate their loved ones who died. In addition to the dancing, traditional music is played.

 

4.      Bathroom Ban

 

Within the Indonesian Tidong community, there are a couple of traditions that brides and grooms must follow. The first tradition is the groom must sing his bride multiple love songs before a curtain is raised for them to see each other on their wedding day. After the wedding is when the second tradition takes place. At that time, both the bride and groom are not allowed to use the bathroom for three full days. During this time, they are both watched over by multiple people. The bride and groom are given very little to eat and drink. When the three days are over, the bride and groom get to bathe and get back to what would be their new life together. It is said that if this tradition is not followed, there could be consequences that include death of a child, infidelity, or even a divorce.

 

5.      Tooth Filing

 

The Balinese culture has a tradition where the bride and groom must have their teeth filed prior to their wedding day. If this tradition is not held before the wedding, it will automatically be incorporated into the ceremony. According to beliefs of the Balinese, filing teeth fulfills a person spiritually and physically. Most of the time, the filing of the teeth makes the statement that a girl is now a woman.

 

6.      Bullet Ant Gloves

 

I don’t know about you, but I am so happy I am not a boy in the Satere-Mawe Tribe within the Amazon! The boys in this tribe must put on gloves filled with bullet ants. These insects have the most painful stinger in the entire world, so getting stung by one is not pleasant at all. The boys must wear these gloves for ten minutes straight and they do a dance as they wear them to forget about the pain they are experiencing. The worst part is a boy in this tribe must wear these gloves twenty different times before they are considered a man!

 

7.      La Tomatina

 

Over in Buñol, Spain, the Tomato Throwing Festival takes place every year on the last Wednesday in August. Everyone attending this festival will have the opportunity to throw tomatoes at everyone else. No one is exactly sure how this festival began, but there are rumors it started in 1945 when a brawl began during a big parade.

 

8.      Hindu Thaipusam Festival Piercings

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The Hindus who live in areas of Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka celebrate a holiday called Thaipusam every year. This holiday allows them to celebrate the birth of Lord Murugan and how he eliminated Soorapadman using a spear. The locals have different parts of their bodies pierced during this festival. It is not uncommon to see large spears sticking out of tongues, faces, or chests on this major holiday.

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These are the craziest traditions you will encounter around the world. I am sure you find most of them as bizarre as I do! But now, I really want to know if you have heard, or seen, any traditions that are crazier than these?!

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