While some rituals can involve something as simple as a silent, individual prayer, others—especially those involving a larger group—can be extremely painful and violent. Here are some of the most bizarre taboo rituals from all over the world:
5 Dancing With the Dead
Famadihana, meaning “The Turning of the Bones,” is a traditional festival which takes place in Madagascar. The participants believe that the faster the body decomposes, the faster the spirit reaches the afterlife. They therefore dig up their loved ones, dance with their corpses to live music around the tomb, and then rebury them. This bizarre ritual is carried out every two to seven years.
4 Impaling
The annual Vegetarian Festival in Phuket, Thailand, is host to a most extreme ritual. This intensely masochistic event requires the participants to push spears, knives, swords, hooks, and even guns through their cheeks. It is believed that gods enter their bodies during the ritual, protecting them from evil and bringing good luck to the community.
3 Scarification
A tribe in Papua New Guinea called Kaningara practices a bloody body-modification ritual that is intended to strengthen the spiritual connection between them and their environment.One of these ritual ceremonies is carried out in Haus Tambaran, or “The Spirit House.” The adolescents live in seclusion in Haus Tambaran for two months. After this period of isolation, they prepare for an initiation ceremony which recognizes their transition to manhood. An expert cutter marks their bodies with sharp pieces of bamboo. The resulting patterns resemble the skin of a crocodile; this is based on the notion that crocodiles are the creators of humans. The marks symbolize the tooth marks left by the spirit of the crocodile as it ate the young boy’s body and expelled him as a grown man.
2 Fire Walking
The Nine Emperor Gods Festival is a Taoist celebration carried out in Penang, Malaysia. One of the purification rituals involves walking barefoot on burning embers. Fire is believed to overcome impurity and repel evil influences—so walking over the fire signifies a man’s strength, and his resolve to free himself from evil. Hundreds of devotees walk over the fire, sometimes carrying deities across in a brave display.
1 Self-Flagellation
Followers of the Shi’a sect of Islam carry out the ritual of mass self-flagellation every year during the Holy month of Muharram, in order to commemorate the martyrdom of Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad. In what can only be described as a gruesome display, the men whip their bodies with blades attached to chains. In their state of religious trance, they apparently do not feel the pain.