When we look at the history of man, we can see the many great and wondrous things of our ancestral past such as new discoveries, inventions, trials and tribulations, the awe inspiring and the grand. When we research the past, we can understand much of why things happened the way they did, however not all of our history is comprehensible. Many cultures and religions have customs and traditions that have been around for thousands of years and remain some of the most bizarre things in the history of mankind. The following is a list of the top 5 strangest traditions around the world, Reader discretion is advised!
Eunuchs (Castration)
Reading about Eunuchs should be a bit painful for the guys. Eunuch refers to someone who has been castrated, you know… like Varys from Game of Thrones. This ancient tradition has been recorded to take place in Ancient Greece, Rome, Indian subcontinent, Korea, and China. In ancient China, the tradition involved the castration of the male allowing them to find employment as courtiers, religious servants, treble singers, government officials and guardians of women or harem servants. It was also done as a form of capital punishment. There are three forms of Eunuchs and none of them sound very fun. Method one involves the testicles being chopped off! The second method is to not only to chop off the testicles but also the penis. And the most painful in my opinion is the third method where the testicles would be crushed. My boys have been hit by a soccer ball in the past and that was an excruciatingly painful experience. The pain of those poor things being crushed into fine powder would not even be describable. This was usually not a voluntary action but the times have changed. There are many men today that go through a procedure to have their sex changed. Although not Eunuchs, they still lost their “goods”. Thankfully for them, it’s not nearly as painful.
Seppuku (Ritual Suicide)
Seppuku is a form of Japanese ritual suicide and is a key code of Bushido, the code of the samurai warrior. When a samurai is threatened by an enemy and death is near or to make good any shame, the samurai would take a short blade (tanto) and plunge it into his abdomen and then slice from left to right. He was then decapitated as he slowly bled to death. Surely the ‘enemy’ would have given a kinder death!
Sati (Voluntary Suicide)
Sati is like the Indian version of Romeo & Juliet! This is a traditional Hindu tradition where a window would throw herself into a fire on the day her husband is buried. Women did this to cast away any sins the husband may have committed therefore allowing him to have a happy afterlife. This was a ‘voluntary’ act and is rarely practiced today as it was outlawed in 1829 under British rule. The act still does take place in remote areas and one recorded case of Sati occurred as recent as 2002. I have a feeling the guy would never jump into the fire for his wife. Would you?
This is supposed to be a “voluntary” act but I swear the lady below is being pushed into the fire!
Tibetan Sky Burial
Number two on our list is a religious tradition done by Buddhists and was a common funeral practice. In Tibet, this practice is known as Jhator. The corpse is perched on a mountaintop and is exposed to nature and animals (primarily vultures) would feast on the body. Sometimes, the body is left as a whole while other times, the body is chopped up in pieces. Buddhism which believes in re-birth consider the dead body to be an empty vessel and that it can be disposed of. In the 1960’s, China prohibited Jhator as it was considered too barbaric but it was allowed once again starting in the 1980’s.
Self-Mummification
Number one on our list is so bizarre that it was hard to comprehend! The Tibetan priest would mummify himself for the purpose of being recognized as a Buddha. The first step involves special diet where the priest would eat nothing but berries and nuts for a thousand days while undertaking rigorous exercise to strip himself of excess fat.
Then for another thousand days he would eat nothing but bark and roots and a poisonous tea made from the sap of the Urushi tree, the purpose was to make his body poisonous so the insects wouldn’t feast on him when he was mummified. Finally he would lock himself in an airtight tomb no bigger than his body with only a bell (he would ring each day to indicate that he was still alive) and an air tube. After the bell stopped ringing, indicating the monk was dead the tube was removed and the tomb remained closed for another 1000 days.
The tomb was then opened to see if the mummification process was successful which made the monk a Buddha. Now that is taking spiritualism to a whole new level.
Well, that’s our top five most bizarre traditions around the world. What do you think? Anything important that we missed here? People do some pretty crazy shit. If you feel the urge to go around the world to find more ancient traditions, it’s time to start browsing our travel section for ideas. Believe me, we’ve got no shortage of ideas. If only we had unlimited funds…
