Throughout history, multiple cultures and religions have practiced various rituals. These are mostly a series of actions performed in a particular order to achieve specific things. There’s generally nothing wrong with rituals. However, some of them tend to be pretty dark or evil. Today, we’ll share some of the strangest rituals of all time.
1. Fire Walking
Firewalking is one of the world’s darkest yet most popular rituals. It was and is still practiced by tens of religions/cultures. In the past, firewalking was common among people presumed to have special powers. Later on, the practice was converted into a healing ritual. For instance, the King Bushmen and some tribes in South Africa included firewalking in their healing ceremonies.
In other parts of the world, like Pakistan, firewalking is used as a traditional justice ritual to punish offenders. Surprisingly, some cultures, such as the one in Bali, require little girls to walk on fire to improve their health.
2. Death Rites of the Yanomami
The Yanomami tribe of the Amazon has some of the weirdest rituals in the world. One of their most interesting is their death rites. After the death of a Yanomami, the locals sing while burning the deceased’s ashes before mixing the ashes with fermented banana and drinking it as a family.
According to the Yanomami, doing so saves the soul of the deceased. There are also other accounts of the Yanomami death ritual, which claims that the body of a deceased is placed in a forest and left for the insects to bite off the soft tissue. After that, the relatives of the deceased eat their bones.
3. Vine Jumping
Vine jumping follows the same concept as bungee jumping. The only difference is that in vine jumping, the head hits the ground while the vines are tied to the legs. This practice is common in the Naghol tribe, which lives on Pentecost Island. They do this ritual yearly to ensure a good harvesting season. Those who practice this also believe diving head first with vines tied on the legs makes the ground fertile and conducive for agriculture. This ritual is strictly practiced by men.
4. The Devil’s Jump
There is a bizarre ritual for welcoming babies to earth in Castrillo de Murcia in Spain. It is known as the Devil’s Jump or the El Colacho. During the first Sunday after Corpus Christi, all newborns are placed on a mattress, and the devils, who are men wearing yellow and red costumes, jump over the babies.
There are drummers who signal the devils when it’s time to make that jump, the primary purpose of which is to remove a baby’s original sin. For years, the Roman Catholic Church has condemned this ritual, but it’s still being practiced in Castrillo de Murcia in the presence of the local priests.
5. Dancing with Bones in Madagascar
The Malagasy, an indigenous tribe in Madagascar, performs death rituals called Famadihana every five to seven years. They begin with exhuming the corpses and proceed to clean them before wrapping their bones in a clean cloth. The Malagasy then place the bones on their heads and dance with them to live music.
As weird as it may seem to the rest of the world, the Malagasy consider this ritual a joyful celebration. According to their culture, caring for the dead allows them to find peace in the spiritual world.
6. Wedding a Tree in India
According to traditional Hindu astrology, people born on Mars under the Mangala Dosha constellation often lead to their spouses’ early death and bad luck – they are called Mangalika. As a result, potential spouses avoid most Mangalikas because of their astrology.
However, there is a ritual that can bypass this curse. Bad luck and early death occur only to the first spouses of the Mangalika. So, Indians born under this astrology wed a tree, plant, or an animal. From there, they can find a suitable partner without ruining their luck or leading them to an early grave.
7. The Human Sacrifices of the Khonds
While human sacrifices were a common ritual in the past, the Khonds of Orissa in India took things too far. While spending time with this tribe, Major S.C. Macpherson thoroughly documented their human sacrifice rituals. The Khonds would sacrifice little girls or sacrificial victims called Meriah, who were people born from a family whose sole purpose was to be sacrificed to the gods for rain, war, and hunting.
8. Teeth Blackening in Vietnam
The Lu Tribe in Vietnam believes white teeth belong to demons and wild animals. So, to separate themselves from these entities, the Lu people blacked their teeth with a paste made of iron nail filings, coconut husks, and tree resins. The interesting part about this ritual is that teeth blackening makes one look sexier in the Lu tribe. It also prevents tooth decay.
9. The Festival of Feasts in Iceland
On paper, this may sound like a regular festival where people get to devour plenty of delicacies. On the contrary, in Iceland, from mid-January to mid-February, the locals participate in the Festival of Feasts to honor Thorri, the god of Thunder, and embrace their Viking lifestyle. Some of the meals on their menu include rotting shark meat, ram’s testicles, and sheep heads. This ritual has been passed down to generations.
10. Christmas Fighting in Peru
For most people across the world, Christmas is associated with celebrating the birth of Jesus and traditions such as Santa handing out gifts to children. However, on Christmas day in Peru, they hold the Takanakuy festival, where people address conflict through fistfights. The locals attend the festival wearing costumes and get into a ring with spectators on the side. Referees often carry whips to manage the brawl. Things usually get out of hand, necessitating intervention from law enforcement.