5 Bizarre Customs of the World You Need to Know Before Travelling Abroad

Bizarre customs of the world – The world is a salad bowl of different cultures and mention of some of which really stifle a yawn. The traditions go eons back and still are perpetuated with equal zeal. However inscrutable the origin is, the people there really borderline obsessed about them. In the age and time of internet, it is not a herculean effort to find out the antecedents of the customs and how they are celebrated in the countries concerned.

We will mention here some of such traditions that will really give appal you.

Bizarre customs of the world –

‘Bomena’ or night-hunting in Bhutan:

In the Eastern parts of the Himalayan Kingdom, young men looking to marry gatecrash the houses of eligible spinsters. If caught, they either have to marry that girl or work in her father’s agricultural field as punishment. While it bulldozes the consent of a woman, the feminists won’t be too happy hearing this!

Bullet ant gloves practised in Africa:

Africa never fails to amaze us with its bizarre tradition and now this. The young men, in pursuit to prove their masochism, trap bullet ants that are later drugged by medicine man and placed in woven mitts. You may not know but the sting of a bullet ant is likened with the pain after being inflicted with a bullet. The young men then wear the mitt and dance for straight 10 minutes to forget the pain. Satere-Mawe is a tribe which celebrates this tradition and each man from their tribe has to go through it 20 times in a lifetime.

Penis festival in Japan:

It is staunchly known as the Kanamara Matsuri where devotees shoulder a large sculpture symbolic of a penis and parade through the streets of Kawasaki. Drawing a leaf from history, Japanese believe that a demoness with vaginal teeth seduced men to their deaths and priests from the temple came to their rescue with this giant penis which destroyed her secret weapon.

Devouring dead bodies:

It is pursued among the tribe of Amazon rainforest bordering Venezuela and Brazil called Yanomani Tribe. They don’t approve of the idea of burying the dead rather burn it and mix the ash and bone powder in plantain soup and make his family consume it in order to make the deceased’s soul rest in peace. Tell you what? my hands are trembling while writing this. Ghastly!

Toddler tossing in India:

This tradition is still carried out in some rural parts of Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra, where toddlers are tossed from the roof of a temple 15-30 feet high above the ground and caught by a blanket spread out underneath. It is said that the tradition brings good luck for the child in the long haul. And what about the trauma he suffers? Never mind.

These are the most talked about bizarre customs of the world and no one ever bother to find logic behind them.