Every culture in the world has traditions that seem strange, unusual and even unacceptable to representatives of other cultures. For your consideration, a list of the most bizarre traditions observed in different countries peace.
Teeth filing, Bali, Indonesia
This Hindu religious ceremony is an important process during the transition from puberty to adulthood. The ritual for both men and women must be performed before marriage, and is sometimes included in the marriage ceremony. The tradition is to file down the fangs. It is believed that by this a person is freed from all invisible evil forces, because teeth are a symbol of lust, greed, anger, confusion and jealousy.
Wedding procession of the Tidong tribe, Indonesia
The wedding procession of the Tidong people is unique. Perhaps the most charming thing is that the groom is not allowed to see the bride's face until he sings her a few love songs. But the strangest thing is that the bride and groom are not allowed to bathe for three days and nights after the wedding. Tidongs believe that in this way good luck will come to the young family, and they will not face quarrels, infidelity and the death of newborn children. You won’t be able to lie and run to wash yourself: the couple is watched by several people, who, moreover, only allow certain amounts of food and drinks.
Finger cutting, Dani tribes, Western New Guinea
The Dani (or Ndani) people are an indigenous tribe inhabiting the fertile lands of the Baliem Valley in the western part of the island New Guinea. Members of this tribe, in order to emphasize the depth of grief at funeral ceremonies, smear their faces with ashes and clay. But that's nothing. The second tradition is more terrible: when a person from the tribe dies, his relative cuts off his finger and buries the phalanx along with the corpse of his husband or wife, as a symbol of love. The finger represents the body and soul, which will always live together with his/her spouse or relative. Some cut off their fingers until they are unable to perform household chores effectively. 
Mourning Muharram, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and several other countries
This tradition plays an important role among Shiites and is carried out in the first month of the Muslim calendar, one of the four forbidden months. The event marks the anniversary of the Battle of Karbala, Iraq, when Imam Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, and the Shia Imam, the prophet's successor, were killed by Yazid I. The event reaches its climax on the morning of the tenth day - Ashura. Groups of Shia Muslims beat themselves with special chains with razors and knives attached. This tradition is practiced among all age groups; in some regions, parents force their children to take part in the blood ceremony. 
Gloves with ants, Mawe people, Brazil
This is a very painful ritual, which is practiced by the Mawe tribe living in the Amazon basin, but without it the young man will not be considered an adult. When a boy reaches a certain age, he goes out into the jungle with the local medicine man and other boys his age to find and collect the so-called bullet ants, which have a very strong sting and poison. This name is no coincidence: the bite of this ant can be compared in degree of pain with bullet wound! The ants are placed in a large wicker mitten, and the boy must put it on and hold his hand there for about ten minutes. To distract themselves from the pain, the young men begin to dance a ritual dance. However, to prove that the sufferer - a real man, he is ready to endure this pain 20 times longer. 
Funeral rites of the Yanomamo people, Brazil and Venezuela
Ritual ceremonies are very important for this tribe. When a tribe member dies, his body is burned and the ashes are mixed into plantain soup, which is eaten by the deceased's family. It is believed that by eating the ashes dear person, relatives help the spirit move to a new body. The body of the deceased must be completely burned, because among the Yanomamo representatives the process of decay seems terrifying. Moreover, the body must be burned as soon as possible, otherwise the soul may fly out of the body and haunt the living. 
Famadihana ritual, Madagascar
The traditional festival is celebrated in urban and rural areas of the country and is especially popular among tribal communities. This funerary tradition, known as "bone turning", involves people bringing the bodies of their ancestors from family crypts, wrapping them in fresh cloth and then dancing with the corpses around the tomb under live music. The ritual is usually held once every seven years, and the whole family gathers for it. For Madagascans, this is an occasion to pay tribute to the dead. During the ceremony, the relatives of the deceased dress very smartly, sing traditional songs and dance. 
Baby Jumping, Spain
In a small community in northern Spain, residents participate in the El Colacho ceremony, which literally translates to "the devil's leap." Babies are placed on mattresses on the ground, and people dressed in devil costumes run and jump over the babies, thus protecting them from any future harm. This tradition is at least 4 centuries old. 
Every country, every people has its own ancestral customs. But sometimes they seem too strange for modern man. We will tell you about some of them.
Residents of the Republic of Madagascar are distinguished by their exceptional affection for their relatives. But sometimes such a connection becomes abnormal, especially when it comes to those who have already died. The Malagasy people to this day strictly follow ancient custom periodically dig up the dead from their tombs, dress them in the best clothes and take joint photographs with them. To a modern European this will seem wild, but the inhabitants of Madagascar believe that such behavior is nothing more than a manifestation of love and respect for those who are already in another world.
In India, there is a rather shocking custom associated with strengthening the spirit of a newborn. The newly born child is thrown from the wall of the temple (height 10-15 meters). Below, the newborn is caught; for this, a large piece of material is stretched, which is held by at least 8 people. It is believed that such a procedure with early years will make the child luckier and also give him courage.
In Scotland, in some regions, the medieval wedding custom. Bride dressed impeccably White dress, decorated with flowers (and rich in jewelry) is completely smeared in mud. Dirt can be spoiled food, soil, flour, honey. In this form, she must walk along the main street, go around central square, and also ride a horse throughout the city. Today this is done, for the most part, for the sake of entertainment, but previously people believed that through this a girl cleanses her soul from all sorts of earthly sins.
The relationship with death among most peoples has always been original. But in conducting funeral rites, they distinguished themselves most Tibetan monks. The body of the deceased, according to their belief, was supposed to not only return to the earth, but also bring benefit. And therefore it was not buried, but divided and carried to the top of the mountain, where wild animals live. Thus, people believed that the spirit of the deceased was reunited with nature in the most natural way: by being included in the natural cycle of substances.
Walking on lit coals has been practiced in Japan and Africa since ancient times. But you can still find this custom there today. Fire was called upon to purify a person, to instill in him courage, firmness and perseverance. It was believed that if you walk along the road of fire without fear, then there is nothing more to be afraid of in life.
The Japanese, as practice shows, are quite strange in their customs. AND Japanese holiday spring fertility is proof of this. At the beginning of spring, residents of the country rising sun gather on the streets of cities (only some cities, since not everyone takes part in the holiday) to witness the sacred action. The strongest and healthiest men get the opportunity to carry a wooden male reproductive organ weighing 25 kilograms across the city. This tradition involves not only improving the land and increasing the level of productivity, but also bringing “fertility to the family,” increasing the birth rate and strengthening families.
Some holiday customs of the peoples of the world can plunge into a state of shock any person uninitiated in their subtleties. national culture. Just look at the crowd of people in devil costumes jumping over babies during the Spanish festival “El Colacho”, or old sofas flying from the windows of houses in the South African city of Johannesburg on New Year's Eve! Native customs will seem like childish pranks compared to what residents of other countries do. Today we will remember the strangest traditions from all over the world and find out how they appeared.
Ukrainian Christmas and the web
In most countries, just the sight of a spider or web will be a good reason to panic and run out of the house screaming in horror. But this does not apply to Ukraine, where the many-legged “monster” will only be welcome. Especially at Christmas! After all, spiders, according to Ukrainians, bring happiness and good luck. According to ancient legend, it was these creatures that helped save Christmas for a certain poor widow and children. They decorated the pine cone that served as her Christmas tree with their silvery web and brought the holiday atmosphere back into the house.
The legend definitely brought a couple of notes of Halloween horror to the Ukrainian version of the Christmas tale. Indeed, in memory of the miracle performed by spiders, the inhabitants of this country began to decorate the holiday tree with artificial cobwebs.
New Year's chaos in South Africa
There are hundreds of ways to meet in an original way New Year. You can, for example, watch the crystal ball descend in Times Square or set off giant fireworks. Have you heard that not so long ago, on the eve of this holiday, South Africans threw old furniture out of the windows of their own houses?
This tradition became widespread in one of the criminal areas of Johannesburg in the 90s of the 20th century after the end of the apartheid era. However, it was not allowed to exist for a long time for objective reasons. A few years ago, a refrigerator flying from the upper floors caused severe injuries an innocent pedestrian. 
Police officers have joined the fight against this dangerous tradition. To maintain law and order, they cruised the streets of the problem area in armored vehicles. The police efforts met with some success. In 2013, not a single piece of furniture flew out of the windows of local houses, although New Year's Eve and there were an incredible number of fights, fireworks were set off everywhere, and a peaceful pedestrian could be hit by a barrage of glass bottles.
Fast food for Christmas in Japan
There are strange traditions in Japan too. And they concern the Christmas menu of its residents. The Japanese do not want to see on their festive table traditional dishes like turkey or goose. They prefer trivial fried chicken from a chain restaurant to all the culinary delights of the world. fast food KFC. How did it happen that banal fast food originally from America became a local national tradition? 
Sun Dance
As you know, the indigenous people of America performed many rituals in honor of the spirits of the earth. All these rituals are needed in order to contact great spirits; they also often sacrifice themselves in order to maintain direct contact with the Tree of Life. Direct contact with the Tree occurs in this way: a skewer attached to a post pierces the skin on the chest. All participants begin to move forward and backward and try to break free, while at this time their skin is still connected to the pole. This dance can last for several hours.
Cannibalism
In India, in the city of Varanasi, there live Aghori Babas who are known for eating dead people. Many of them think that most of all in life a person is afraid of his death, and that this fear prevents him from becoming spiritually enlightened. Aghori Babas believe that if they eat dead person, then this fear disappears and they begin to become enlightened. According to Hindu law, 5 types of people cannot be cremated: pregnant women, children, saints, unmarried women and people who died due to snakebite or leprosy. These people are first given to the Ganges River, and then the Aghori take them out from there and begin to consume them.
Vine Jumping
Gkol is a ritual that is performed in the village of Bunlap. This ritual is reminiscent of bungee jumping. At the moment when the men are preparing to jump, all the other residents sing and dance. The jumpers tie a vine around their ankles and then jump from wooden towers that are made especially for this ritual. Apparently, the men are not worried about what this might mean for them, they simply believe that the higher the jump point, the greater the blessing of the gods.
Self-flagellation
During holy month Muharram, every year followers of Shiite Islam carry out mass self-flagellation. Thus, they commemorate the death of Hussein, as well as the grandson of Muhammad. During the ritual, men torture their bodies with blades attached to chains. Men do not feel pain as they are all in a trance state.
Sky Burials
There is a sacred ritual called sky burial in Tibet. Buddhists believe that there is no need to preserve the body after death, since there is a circle of rebirth. Bodies dead people transmitted to aerial predators. In order for the body to disappear as quickly as possible, it is cut into pieces and given to the surrounding area for consumption.
Voodoo and Spiritual Domains
West Africa is popular with Voodoo followers. One of the rituals is famous for the fact that a person takes a spirit or a friend’s soul into himself, as if into a vessel. Although the person is conscious, it is believed that the spirit takes complete possession of the body, and at the end of the ritual the spirit remains in the person for another 3 days.
Dancing with the Dead
Madagascar hosts the "Twist the Dice" festival. Residents believe that in order for the spirit to reach the afterlife faster, the body must decompose as quickly as possible. Therefore, once every 2 years for 7 years they dig up their loved ones, dance with them around the grave and then they need to be reburied in another place.
Fire Walks
In Malaysia it is believed that in order to repel evil influences from oneself or to strengthen male strength and get rid of bad thoughts, you need to undergo a cleansing ritual and walk barefoot on burning coals. Hundreds of people believe in this and therefore take part in this festival.
Death rites
The Yanomami tribe is considered one of the most primitive in the world. According to residents, death is not a natural phenomenon. After death, the body is cremated and mixed with bananas and consumed. In their opinion, in this way, a member of the tribe does not leave them, but continues to live with them.Impaling
A very dangerous ritual is performed annually in Phuket, Thailand. Participants pierce their cheeks with swords, spears, knives or even weapons. All this is carried out because the residents believe that the gods put them into a trance during this action, and this helps protect themselves from evil and brings good luck in the future.
Scarification
The spiritual connection between the tribe is very important in Paula (New Guinea), so they have an unusual ritual. One of the ceremonies is held in the “House of the Spirit”. The ritual consists of teenagers living alone in the House of the Spirit for two months. At the end of the isolation, everyone prepares for initiation, after which their transition to maturity is recognized. During the ritual, punctures are made using bamboo shards. All these serrations are very similar to crocodile skin. Tribal people believe that humans are descended from crocodiles. According to legend, the crocodile swallowed the boy and left an adult man in his place, and because of this, all the marks on the body resemble marks from the teeth of a crocodile.
At all times, the attention of researchers studying ethnic formations in the totality of their origin, material and spiritual culture, life and traditions has been focused on different peoples the world, among which there were truly amazing communities. What groups, united by a common territory, language and customs, can be called the most amazing of all?
The first on the list of the most amazing peoples of the world will be real travelers leading a nomadic lifestyle. People belonging to this group call themselves "Paevey", although they are also known as Irish "wanderers", "wanderers" or Shelta (after the unwritten language). They represent an ethnic group with not fully understood historical origin. Thus, some researchers believe that the Irish gypsies are descendants of the nomadic Celts. Others think that they came from the landless peasantry of the 1840s. The latter insist on the version of the appearance of the paevi from one, albeit extensive, gypsy clan, which is confirmed by the commonality of the traditions of the “wanderers” with their Western European “brothers”.
This is interesting! One thing is certain - representatives of the Shelts have long become native Irish, which was confirmed by a genetic study that was once carried out.
"Travelers" prefer to live in vans, easily transported from place to place, and also coexist in communities. The population of Ireland, Great Britain and the USA, where the share of such gypsies is 23,000, 15,000 and 7,000 people respectively, treats “wanderers” with caution. This is quite reasonable: pavees can easily cheat or deceive, sneak into a cinema without paying, take a room in a hotel and, breaking any rules, invite their many relatives there. They are very hot-tempered, which is why their disputes often escalate into fist fights. At the same time, the gypsies try not to bother other people.
One of the most amazing traditions of Shelta is the organization of an annual fair. All representatives of the ethnic group come here to trade horses and purebred puppies. Unofficial viewings are also held here. Young people who dress up for an important occasion get to know each other, as a result of which many weddings are held at the end of the bazaar.
Padaung
The next most amazing people in the world that the story will be about will be the Thai ethnic group called “Padaung”, numbering only 50,000 representatives. Living in high mountain villages, the men of the collective are engaged in growing rice, keeping and training elephants, reading prayers and slaughtering victims in the name of the supreme female spirit of the tribe. However, this was not at all the reason for the increase in the popularity of padaung.
The women of the community are gradually becoming like giraffes, as many tourists who saw them concluded. The whole point is that representatives of the fair sex begin at the age of 5 to put copper spiral rings with a diameter of about 1 cm on their necks - this is the custom of local villages. Over time, the number of revolutions of the strange “decoration” only increases, and the neck seems to stretch in length. In fact, women experience deformation shoulder girdle. By adulthood, the number of rings worn can become more than 2 dozen with a total weight of 4-5 kg. Their growth stops only with marriage, however, even then the newly-made wife does not have the right to remove the spirals from her neck.
Padaung women continue the amazing tradition of their people, passed down to them from their mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers since the creation of the world itself, and it seems they don’t even think about its unnatural essence. It is believed that rings once protected the fairer sex from tiger bites. According to another version, this is how families protected their savings - precious metals. However, today these explanations are defeated by ordinary calculation - the unusual feature of the residents attracts many tourists from all over the world, and, therefore, allows them to derive practical benefits from the custom.
Berbers
Some associate the African continent exclusively with the Negroid race or Arabs, who appeared on these lands in the 7-8 centuries AD. Imagine the surprise of these people when they learn about the Berbers, once so called by their neighbors due to the incomprehensibility of the language, or the Amazighs (a self-name that translates as “free people”). Many representatives of this group are not only native and the oldest inhabitants on the mainland, but also with fair skin and a European type of appearance! Today, the Berbers are understood as a whole complex of tribes, occupying territories from western Egypt to the Atlantic and from the Niger River to the Mediterranean Sea.
The best ethnographers of the world could not fully explain the amazing traditions of this people. For example, it remains unclear why the clothing, jewelry, tattoos (harkuzu) and ancient ornaments of this large group use motifs similar to Slavic and Aryan ones: similar embroidery on fabric, symbols of motherhood and fertility, signs of military success. Scarves tied on the head, flowing scarves, kokoshniks and the predominance of red and white colors in costumes are also more likely to suit the characteristics of Russian or Ukrainian, and not at all African, historical culture.
Perhaps the reason for the similarities is the common origin, because a number of researchers suggest that many years ago the Berbers came out of Eurasia, and, in particular, became descendants of the Gauls.
Who should not be forgotten
In addition to the above-mentioned ethnic groups, there are some other nationalities on the planet that can capture the imagination of modern man with the eccentricity of their ways and customs. Here is a list of them:
Nenets, Russia. This "frost-hardy" tribe lives on the Yamal Peninsula right next to the Arctic Ocean. Desperate nomadic reindeer herders, who migrate 1,000 km annually, have long adapted to temperatures that would seem prohibitive to others - -50° in winter and, in rare cases, up to +35° in summer.
Mustangs, Nepal. This autonomous community tried to remain aloof from any possibility of contact with the rest of the world until 1991. Mustangs, who practice something like early Buddhism, are extremely devout. Most of them believe that the Earth is flat.
Himba, Namibia. These Africans are distinguished by their ingenuity and ability to adapt to the most difficult conditions. In the places they live, there is a catastrophic lack of water, so they are forced not to wash, but to smear themselves with a homemade mixture that paints their bodies in a golden-red palette.