SAEDNEWS: Human culture has been diverse and ever-changing over the millennia, evolving alongside advances in science and technology. Yet for some, little has changed. These individuals have preserved many of the ancient and remarkably strange aspects of their culture—some of the most unusual practices that have ever existed.
Human culture has evolved and diversified over the ages, advancing alongside science and technology. Yet, for some communities, certain practices have remained largely unchanged, preserving ancient and often bizarre rituals that have survived through the centuries.
The Ainu people, whose roots trace back to regions of Russia and Japan, have a tradition of sacrificing bears. This practice is considered religious in nature, as locally, bears are believed to be divine beings walking among humans. Sacrificing a bear is thought to bring blessings to human souls.
For outsiders, this ritual may seem horrifying. In it, the mother bear is killed in a cave, while her cub is raised for two years. Afterward, the cub is also killed—either by strangulation or with a spear—as a form of worship and religious devotion. The villagers drink the bear’s blood, eat its meat, and place the bear’s skull atop a spear wrapped in its hide, transforming it into a sacred idol for future rituals. While this practice is less common today, it still occurs in scattered regions.
The Yanomami tribe, spread across the rainforests of the Amazon—particularly along the Venezuela-Brazil border—are known for their unusual practice of consuming the flesh of deceased tribe members. Unlike cannibalism, which typically involves killing someone for consumption, this ritual involves the body of a person who has already died.
The deceased is wrapped in cloth and tree leaves, left exposed to insects for 30 to 45 days, and then the bones are crushed and added to a banana soup. This soup is shared among all tribe members in a ceremonial feast.
Although this custom is primarily associated with China, it is not exclusive to Chinese culture. A well-known Chinese saying advises that a husband should carry his wife over a pile of hot coals before entering their home as a married couple.
This unusual spiritual ritual is believed to ensure that the wife will have an easy and successful childbirth. In some Chinese communities, walking on fire and coals is also performed to prevent natural disasters, such as earthquakes.
Among the Eskimos, a grim ritual involved abandoning elderly members of the tribe as if they were dead. The elderly person would be placed on a piece of ice floating in water and pushed toward the ocean, into the unknown.
Eskimos believe in life after death, and this method was seen as a way to prevent older members from becoming a burden while treating them with dignity. While this practice is no longer common, imagining being a vulnerable elder set adrift highlights the harsh realities of survival in extreme conditions.
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