In a world with several religions, states, and rituals, it is clear to notice weird customs, strange traditions and gaze at magnificent sights.
The death of a loved one is always an extremely painful thing to bear, and people of different cultures grieve in diverse ways, some more unique than others.
When it comes to celebration, there are some traditions that have been doing the rounds across the world.
Well, everyone has different reasons to celebrate the deaths and births of their forefathers and young ones.
Some are cringe-inducing, some are downright revolting, and all are extraordinarily bizarre.
While there are some rituals that may not be connected to our minds and hearts, there are some old and bizarre traditions and beliefs which have a completely new story to tell.
To this, if you are also raised in western society, some cultural practices and marriage rituals may surprise you.
CUTTING FINGERTIPS.
Finger-cutting is a fundamental part of grieving for women of the Dani tribe and pertains to their women only.
The death of a family member in the Dani tribe of Indonesia proclaims a vast amount of inevitable emotional grief and for women, physical pain is involved by cutting off (by compulsion) a segment of one of their fingers.
An estimated 250,000 Dani tribe members live in a town named Wamena, in the extremely remote central highland area of Papua Province, according to The Globe and Mail.
Prior to amputation, a string would be firmly tied to the upper half of the woman's finger for 30 minutes, to cause numbness. This was to reduce the pain from amputating the tip.
Once amputated, the new fingertips are burnt to create new scar tissue and also to prevent infection, stop bleeding, and form new stony fingertips.
In most cases, the responsibility of cutting off the top joint of the finger is assigned to one of the woman's immediate family member, mostly a sibling or parent.
The amputated finger is then burned and buried somewhere special.
This custom is done as a means to satisfy ancestral ghosts and is rarely, but still sporadically, practised in the tribe and is still followed in some parts of Indonesia.
LIVING WITH THE DEAD.
Living with the dead is one of the most strange and weirdest cultures noticed around the world.
It is a ritual that involves digging up the coffins of dead loved ones every couple of years and grooming them.
Indonesian people (Toraja people) or some ethnic groups of Indonesia are practising this customary from thousands of years by exhuming the corpses of their fellow villagers.
This strange cultural practice is known as ‘The Ceremony of Cleaning Corpses’ (Ma’nene).
The Torajan people keep the bodies of their relatives to "live" at home with them, sometimes for years after their deaths.
The people wrap the dead person in special clothes, parade them around the village and keep them safe in the house for months instead of disposing of them.
Not only that, in case someone died outside the village, but the corpse will also be taken to the spot of death, and then walked back to the village, as an act of returning home.
Providing corpses with their own rooms, they are washed with a solution of water and formaldehyde and their clothes are regularly changed.
The family members bring food for them several times a day plus a bowl in the corner that acts as their "toilet".
The bodies of the dead are injected with a preservative called Formalin, which stops the bodies from decomposing.
If any child dies, the body is hung off from a cliff with a thick rope until the rope decays, and the coffin falls to the ground which is then reattached.
People believe that this ritual ensures good luck for the deceased.
This is carried out every year in August as their families return to the caves, take the body out, and again change the clothes.
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