Terrible ancient rituals, the practice so far (7 photos)

While the majority of surviving in today's society rituals include innocuous, common traditions around the world, the other, less well-known, can be extremely painful and cruel. The unusual and dangerous rituals can be found in different parts of the world. On some of them we will tell you in this collection.



1. Cannibalism.


Aghori Baba, who live in the Indian city of Varanasi is famous for the fact that eat the dead. They believe that the greatest fear of man - it is the fear of death, and that this fear is an obstacle to spiritual liberation. Eating dead - you can get rid of the fear and get on the right path of enlightenment.
There are five types of people who can not be cremated, in accordance with the rules of the Hindu holy, children, pregnant, unmarried women, people who died of leprosy or snake bites. These people are given the sacred river Ganges, where they subsequently pulled and ritually consume Aghori.

2.Samobichevanie.


Every year during the holy month of Muharram Shia Islam followers carried the ritual of self-flagellation mass to commemorate the martyrdom of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. Men beat their bodies with blades attached to chains. In the state of religious trance, they almost do not feel pain.

3. Jumping with vines.


In the village of Bunlap, which is on an island in the Pacific, held a ritual called Gkol. This ritual is a kind of precursor to bungee jumping. Villagers sing, dance, some beat drums, and some men are preparing for the dangerous jump. They tie the vines around their ankles and jump from very high wooden towers built specifically for this ritual. The participants of the ritual, apparently not much concerned about the probability of break bones. They just jump and fly upside down. It is believed that the higher a person has started, the more he will get the blessing of the gods.

4.Ognennye walks.


The festival is held in Penang, Malaysia. One of the rituals of purification involves walking barefoot on burning coals. It is believed that the fire scares away evil spirits, enhances virility and helps get rid of bad thoughts. To this end, the lights go on hundreds of people.

5.Tantsy with the dead.


Famadihana, which means "bone rotation", is a traditional festival that takes place in Madagascar. Participants believe that the faster the body decomposes, the faster the spirit reaches the underworld. So they dug their loved ones in order to dance with them to the music around the grave, and then reburied. This bizarre ritual takes place every 2 years -7 years.

6.Skarifikatsiya.


Kaningara tribe of Papua New Guinea, a very unusual practice a ritual that aims to strengthen the spiritual connection between the members of the tribe and their surroundings. One of the ritual ceremonies held in the "House of the Spirit." Teens live in seclusion at the House of the Spirit within two months. After this period of isolation, they are preparing for the ceremony, which recognizes their transition to adulthood. During the ritual, the person making the skin incisions bamboo splinters. These bulges resemble crocodile skin. The people of this tribe believe that crocodiles are the creators of humans. Signs on the body symbolize the teeth marks of a crocodile that ate the boy and left a grown man.