Eating Dead Relatives Ashes:Yanomamö Indians

According to the Yanomamö Indians, you should. Deep in the rainforests of southern Venezuela and northwestern Brazil, the Yanomamö people have real concerns about holding on to their souls. Maintaining possession of their soul is such a worry they won’t reveal their true names to strangers, as they fear they might lose their soul as a result.

But the Yanomamö soul protection practices don’t stop there. Their religious beliefs center around the care and keeping of the soul. When a member of their family group dies, it is left to the surviving members to ensure the soul of the deceased is protected from loss or intervention by evil forces. They cremate the body and eat the ashes to protect the soul. This so serious to them because they believe they can lose their souls if this isn’t done correctly. When they are at war with other tribes or etc. they threaten them by saying they aren’t going to eat their ashes.

This shows extreme loyalty and dedication to the dead from their loved ones.

OUCH: Bullet Ants Coming of Age Ritual

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In the Amazon, becoming an doesn’t mean celebrating the first sight of hair on your nether regions. For the Satere-Mawe tribe in Brazil, it means sticking your hands into gloves filled with BULLET ANTS for eleven hours. Now, if you don’t know what a bullet ant is, let us inform you. Bullet ants, or Paraponera, on the Schmidt scale the Bullet Ant has a rating of  4 and that’s the highest ratings. The name is awarded appropriately given their stings are compared to being shot with bullets. If that’s what it takes to be a man, I am glad I am a female. The pain gets worse after you take the gloves off and lasts for 24 hours. The fact that they have to do this 20 TIMES throughout their lives just to become a man, is psycho to me.

I am not sure why and how this ritual became one, but these men are very strong mentally because to purposely expose yourself to this type of pain, is insane. I think that the world should hear about this ritual because it is very interesting that these men would go though this.

La Tomatina: The world’s largest tomato fight

Tomatina Festival, Bunol, Spain – 03 Jun 2013…Mandatory Credit: Photo by JHON PAZ / Rex Features (2428793b) Revellers take part in the annual tomato fight Tomatina Festival, Bunol, Spain – 03 Jun 2013

La Tomatina, the annual Tomato Throwing Festival, held in the Valencian town of Buñol, Spain. It is held on the last Wednesday of August, during the week of festivities of Buñol. The participants throw tomatoes and get involved in this tomato fight purely for fun.

There are many theories about Tomatina. In 1945, during a parade of gigantes y cabezudos, young adults who wanted to be in the event staged a brawl in town’s main square, the Plaza del Pueblo. There was a vegetable stand nearby, so they picked up tomatoes and used them as weapons. The police had to intervene to break up the fight and forced those responsible to pay the damages incurred. This is the most popular of many theories about how the Tomatina started.

I think this is a very great festival to get everyone together to have fun. I don’t think that it has any big meaning but because it is literally a tomato fight. This brings people together showing how Spain is as a country.

Baby Jumping: Thanks to the Original Sinners

 

This festival is called El Colacho, which is held in Spain to cleanse innocent babies from the sin that Adam and Eve committed. The already baptized babies are laid on the ground while grown men in “devil” suits ( dressed in red and yellow jumpsuits paired with modern running shoes) jump over them causing the sin to stick to the devil and leave the babies cleansed from the Original sin. En route to the middle of the square, people taunt the “devil” and run from his whip. (reasons why the “devil” is wearing modern running shoes.)

Days before the Christian festival, the town of Castillo de Murcia is alive and booming with people participating in the ritual and even tourists who are curious in what happens during this very important ritual. The very quite town of 500 people is turned into something you might call a little Time Square.

I really enjoyed researching this tradition because I never heard some something like this before. I love when people come together to “spiritually” do something that will benefit our future; the children. Even if its something that no one else believes in, I think this is a great tradition (besides putting the babies at risk of getting trampled over by the devil).

BURGOS, SPAIN – JUNE 26: A priest blesses babies during the festival of El Colacho on June 26, 2011 in Castrillo de Murcia near Burgos, Spain. The festival, held on the first Sunday after Corpus Cristi, represents the devil, called El Colacho, taking away original sin from the newly born babies by leaping over them. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)

Bathroom Ban for Newlyweds: Tidong Tribe

In the Indonesian Tidong community there is a wedding ritual where the groom and bride can not urinate or defecate for 3 days and 3 nights. It is said that if they do not follow this tradition it would bring them bad luck to the couple: broken marriage, infidelity,  or death of their children at a young age. During this very challenging tradition, the couple is overseen by several people to ensure they go through with it. Also during this, the couple are not allowed to leave the house, and are fed small amounts of food and water to limit the urge to use the bathroom.

This is one of the most taboo wedding traditions I have ever heard of but it shows a strong commitment and strong will to make their marriage as perfect as they can, and I can respect that. I think that this tradition is something that show not be practiced but should be known because it shows dedication. Every country and culture would benefit from their dedication to something that they believe in this strongly. America would benefit tremendously with the qualities that the Tidong community have.     

Dancing with the Dead: The Famadihana Tradition

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Every culture has their own customs and rituals concerning their funerary traditions. This tradition might seem very taboo to many people but for the people of Madagascar, this is a normal celebration.

This tradition is called Famadihana, known as the turning of the bones. People open the tombs and dig up their ancestors/family members and re wrap them in fresh cloth, and party with the dead corpses all around to live music. The custom is based upon a belief that the spirits of the dead finally join the world of the ancestors after the body’s complete decomposition and appropriate ceremonies, which may take many years. In Madagascar this became a regular ritual usually once every seven years, and the custom brings together extended families in celebrations of kinship.

When I first saw this tradition, I was a little disturbed. However, when I read more and more about the tradition, it shows family bonding and togetherness… something that all families should have. This is the Malagasy peoples “family reunion”. This unique tradition brings the entire family together in one spot to celebrate the life of their ancestors, and even their lives. This is very similar to family reunion, however, at American family reunions do not include carrying around our dead great grandparents.

Carrying her Over the Fire: Chinese Pregnancy Ritual

For most of the women in the world, pregnancy is one thing they look forward too. Everyone has their own beliefs and rituals concerning the pregnant mother and fetus. In  China the rituals regarding pregnancies range from unique to something that should be practiced throughout the world to better the way pregnant women are treated.

Once the pregnancy is confirmed, the father-to-be carries his pregnant wife over amber colored, burning coal. It is said that if the father successfully does this, the mother will have a smooth, and  less painful labor. The men do this painful ritual because the mother of the child during the pregnancy has 9 months of raging hormones, and pain, they don’t think that they should have an  easy journey either.

I think  this ritual is a very unique, and spiritual one. This might seem taboo to others because walking on coal seems very unreasonable to just “make it easier” for their pregnant wives, however, I think this shows how the father takes on some of the pain that the mother in order to spiritually stop her suffering. I like the overall thought of this ritual because it shows the compassion and love that the father of the soon-to-be has for the newborn child, and the mother. I think America would be a better place for pregnant women if our father-to-be’s actually showed the devotion and compassion for this beautiful process of life, like the Chinese. Also, the government should take better care of the mothers too. In this country pregnant women do not get paid time off from work like other countries ex: Canada, China, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, France, Australia, and many more. The US is the only developed country that does not give paid paternal leave.

I think the US would be better off if we treated parents-to-be, and new parents better because they are just providing us with our future.

Pre-Wedding Ritual: Henna Party

Muslim Weddings are steeped in rituals and traditions. There are pre-wedding festivities that usually last a few days. The traditional wedding ritual is called nikah in Arabic. One of the events that I found was the henna party  (mendhi party).  Two nights before the wedding, the bride is surrounded by women from her side of the family (and sometimes the grooms side), that paints intricate designs on her hands, arms, and feet.The bride may also be perfumed with fragrant oils and presented with gifts of jewelry and silk. Basically beautifying her. 

Most of the designs that are painted on the bride are very sophisticated flowers and patterns that represent different things, For example: it symbolizes the bride’s entrance to womanhood and/or some symbols are meant to provide luck and fertility. 

Henna designs simultaneously protect and adorn the bride and the party creates a female bonding opportunity. The bride may also be perfumed with fragrant oils and presented with gifts of jewelry and silk.

I think this tradition is a very good one especially concerning the bonding between the women of the family. American weddings are tradition filled but I think that this is one of the traditions that should be passed to Americans and the way the women all come and bond together as one. America will benefit from this party because all the women of the family and the brides friends all come together to basically bring the bride wealth, luck, and fertility. This shows a bonding moment shows that not all gifts are materials, but there are gifts you need but cannot buy.