hindu funeral vegetarian

this is the 10 craziest traditions from aroundthe world. number 10up first in tenth place, we have the hindu tradition of thaipusam piercings which takesplace across india and in other hindu communities across the world. during the celebration of the religious holidaythaipusam, hindus show their devotion to lord

hindu funeral vegetarian, murugan by piercing various parts of theirbodies. lord murugan, who is one of the earliest hindugods dating back to around the third century bc, is said to have killed a vengeful spirit,soorapadman, with a spear – and therefore, logically, people stab themselves to celebrateit.

as the years have passed, the piercings havebecome more and more gruesome – often including putting large spears and hooks through theirchest or face. number 9here in ninth is chinese hat hair. this strange tradition sees women wear headdressesmade from the hair of their dead ancestors. instead of throwing away their hair when itscut, women who are part of china’s minority community, the long-horn miao, instead saveit and add it to their collection for use when they die. once they have passed, the hair is made into spectacular headdresses and worn on special occasions by young women in the family.

the evidence of these hats has been foundas far back as 6,000 years. number 8the phuket vegetarian festival, which is much more interesting than any peta rally, is acolourful event held over nine days in october. the event celebrates the belief that abstinencefrom meat during the ninth month of the chinese calendar will help them to obtain health. the origin of the festival is said to havecome from when a chinese opera group fell ill with malaria when performing on the phuketisland in thailand. they chose to stick to a strictly vegetariandiet and pray to the emperor gods to ensure that their mind and body were purified.

to the surprise of everybody, the group madea full recovery and survived what was, during the 1800s when this took place, an incrediblyfatal illness. so far, fairly normal. well, if it ended there it wouldn’t be onthe list. as well as the vegetarianism, the phuket peoplelike to commit various acts of self-mutilation in order to invoke the gods to protect themfrom such harm. this includes stabbing various objects throughtheir body and face, and walking across burning coals. as in the nature of this celebration, therehave been many injuries caused by this – and

even a few deaths. number 7the endocannibalist yanomami tribe. endocannibalism is the consumptions of a personafter they have died – as appose to just regular old cannibalism. the yanomami tribe lives in the amazon rainforest,near the border of venezuela and brazil, and the practice involves wrapping the corpsein leaves and allowing insects to pick at it. around a month later, the bones are collected,smashed in to dust, and mixed in to a banana soup which is eaten by the rest of the tribe.

after a year, they will then mix the ashesin to another banana soup and eat it. according to tradition, the ritual helps ensurethat the souls of the dead find their way to the afterlife. the yanomami tribe are semi-uncontacted, andthis tradition has been going on for thousands of years, since they first migrated to theamazon. number 6coming in at sixth place ashura. ashura is an event recognised by many muslimsaround the world for various reasons. for some shiite muslims, the day is observedby commemoration of the death of imam hussein – a grandson of the prophet muhammed.

hussein allegedly died by being repeatedlystruck on the head with daggers – an event which took place around the year 680 ad. today, some men choose to join in a processionand hit themselves on the head with daggers to pay tribute to the fallen prophet. it is also to mourn the fact that they werenot alive to save hussein. number 5here in fifth is self-mummification, which, as the name suggests, is the act of preservingyour own body after death to ensure it does not rot away. this strange tradition took place in northernjapan – though is not done today.

for three years, priests would eat a specialdiet of only nuts and seeds, in order to lose as much weight as possible, whilst takingpart in a rigorous regime of physical activity. they then, for another three years, ate onlybark and roots and began drinking poisonous tea made from the sap of the urushi tree. this caused vomiting and, most importantly,removed bacteria from their system which could result in them rotting after death. finally, they would lock themselves in a stonetomb barely large enough to contain their body. his only connection with the outside worldwas an air tube and a bell.

each day he would ring the bell to let thoseoutside know he was still alive. once the bell stopped ringing, the air tubewas removed and the tomb was sealed in able to leave the body to rest. mummified bodies have been found dating fromaround the 12th century to as late as the early 20th century ad. number 4at fourth we’ve got the baby dropping ritual. residents of the western indian town of solapurdrop their babies off a 15 meter tower, and have them caught at the bottom in a whitesheet. this ritual, which has taken place for morethan 500 years, is believed to make the babies

grow up to be healthy and strong – kindof like an enforced natural selection. there has allegedly not been a single injuryfrom this practice over its 500 year duration, but it’s not like the babies could tellyou anyway. number 3third place is the gloucester cheese roll. perhaps one of the oddest traditions on thelist, the gloucester cheese roll is when a wheel of cheese is rolled down a steep hillin the english town of gloucester, and locals are then given the task of chasing after it. the idea is to catch the cheese, but sincethe cheese gets a one second head start on the runners, and can reach speeds of 70mph,it hasn’t yet been caught.

the first person to the bottom of the hillwins the cheese – although it’s more about the fun than the food. there has not yet been any deaths from this,though there has been plenty of broken bones and even a concussion. it’s origins aren’t completely known,but one theory is that it originates from a pagan custom of rolling objects down thehill. it’s thought that bundles of burning brushwoodwere rolled down the hill to represent the birth of the new year after winter – butit later transitioned to cheese as it’s a lot more fun to catch.

number 2just missing out on first place is the greek firework battle. a small island called chios in greece celebrateseaster in a very strange way, and that is by shooting fireworks at churches. this tradition is extremely dangerous, butit’s even more dangerous when you find that the event takes placewhilst the church ishaving a service. there has been fires, damaged homes and evendeaths in the past. this celebration takes its origin from 1889,when ottoman occupiers confiscated the cannons of the islanders.

they responded by firing homemade rockets,similar to fireworks, at the occupiers in order to resist their rule and to try to forcethem away. number 1now, coming in at first place, we have the zoroastrian funeral. this crazy funeral begins with the corpseof the deceased being cleaned with bull urine, by a specially trained member of the community. once “clean” the corpse is wrapped incloth and then visited twice by the sagdid, a dog that casts away evil spirits. after mourners have visited the corpse, theythen remove their clothes using special tools,

as touching is strictly forbidden, and thendestroyed. they then place the body on top of what iscalled a “tower of silence” and allow them to be eaten by vultures. its origins date back to as early as the 5thcentury bc, who observed the tradition from iranian expatriates, and is done as a matterof cleanliness to ensure that the mourners have as little physical contact with the corpseas possible. a very beautiful ceremony.

we hope you enjoyed this list. which one do you think was the craziest?

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