The Strangest Traditions And Cultures On The Planet

The word culture has many meanings and diverse concepts depending on the area of ​​study. However, the most colloquial way of approaching it is as ‘the way of doing things’, by a human group. This encompasses both the cultures most akin to ours and the strangest cultures from our point of view.

It should be noted that a core aspect of culture is tradition, understood as a model that is passed from one generation to another. Tradition is the result of experiences lived individually or collectively and ends up being part of the identity of a group.

Examples of this are found in such common practices as the celebration of Christmas or mourning at funerals. For sociologists, tradition requires renewal and updating in order to stay alive within a social group.

Next, we are going to take a trip  into the universe of the strangest cultures. You will have the opportunity to surprise yourself and reflect on the human condition and its infinite manifestations. You can not lose this.

Sati , a practice of the strangest cultures

The word sati is a Sanskrit term. It refers to a funeral ritual in which the wife sacrifices her life on the funeral pyre of her recently deceased husband. This ritual has its origin in the Hindu religion and its practice dates back to several centuries before our era.

It is estimated that this rite was initially practiced by warrior castes such as the Rashputs and was later adopted by the others, including the high caste of the Brahmins. The ritual was banned in 1829. Even so, it is still practiced sporadically in countries such as Nepal and India.

The celestial burial

Celestial burial is a funerary practice that is frequently performed in Tibet. This ritual consists of leaving the corpse of the deceased in the highest place of a mountain. This Buddhist practice is called jhator , which translated means ‘to give a soul to the birds’. Although spiritual in nature, it is part of the strangest cultures.

One of the fundamental concepts of Buddhism is reincarnation, so, in this sense, the body is an empty shell that does not need to be preserved. The usefulness of the body lies only in the potential it has to give continuity to any form of life, such as scavengers or microorganisms of decomposition.

The Padaung in one of the strangest cultures

The Padaung, or giraffe-necked women, belong to the Kayan ethnic group, a Burmese community found in the Shan state. As part of their traditions, they force girls to wear a set of spiral rings that lengthen their necks from the age of five. This is another of the strangest cultures out there.

This practice does not actually lengthen the necks, but rather lowers the clavicles, giving the impression of longer necks. This trait is valued as an attribute of feminine beauty. Additionally, this characteristic has become a source of economic income from tourism.

Polyandry

Polyandry is the marital condition in which a woman is married to several men simultaneously. This form of union has been observed in some ethnic groups such as the Inuit (North America), the Awá (Brazil), the Mosuo (China) and in some of Tibet. In these towns, the responsibility of the lineage rests with the women. Without a doubt, one of the practices that account for the strangest cultures

The root cause of polyandry has also been determined to be infanticide of newborn women. This results in a high number of men, compared to a low rate of women in these ethnic groups. Therefore, it should be clarified that these societies are not matriarchal, since power is concentrated in men and not in women.

Lip plate

The lip plate or lip dilatation is a decorative practice in which the face of women is intervened for aesthetic purposes. This is usually a wooden or clay disc that is inserted into the lower lip of the mouth after a piercing is performed. Over time, the diameter of the disc increases until it even reaches 20 centimeters.

It is an ancestral practice that dates back to 8700 BC, in the case of ethnic groups from Ethiopia and Sudan. But it has also been found in peoples of Mesoamerica, Ecuador and in some groups in the Amazon region. The beauty and status of women is determined by those who achieve the largest disc size on their lips. The last of our list of the strangest cultures.