10 Strange Rituals, Customs From Around The World

1. Throwing babies – In a strange custom followed in South Indian state of Karnataka, newborn babies are tossed off the roof of a 30-foot tall shrine, to be caught in a stretched bedspread below. People believe this ritual, which dates back almost 700 years, gives their babies good health, prosperity and luck.

2. Cutting off fingers – The ritual, which is one of the most painful cultural practices, is performed by Dani tribe of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea in order express grief on death of a family member. The women of the tribe cut off the top joint of the finger and then cauterize the open wound in order to create a new “fingertip.”

3. Foot binding - Young Chinese girls, aged between four and five, go through the process of foot binding in order to prevent growing of the foot. People believe small feet is a sign of beauty and sensuality in young girls and hence a girl’s feet is restricted from growing bigger by binding them.

4. Wearing Ant Gloves - The Satere Mawé Tribe of the Amazon force young boys to wear a gloves full of bullet ants, which is said to have the most painful sting in the world. The tribe believe that a boy becomes sexually mature by taking part in this bizarre ritual.

5. Eating The Dead's Ash – Yanomami tribe in Venezuela and Brazil eat ashes of the burnt dead body mixed into a plantain soup to ensure peace for the dead person’s soul. They believe that by doing this, the spirit of the dead person remains forever with them.

6. Land diving – The ritual is performed by the Bunlap people, Vanuatu, in which boys strap a rope around their ankles and jump headfirst from a wooden tower around 75 feet high, in order to prove their manhood. In most cases, the boys hit the ground and suffer serious injuries.

7. Sky burial – It is a ritual followed in Tibet in which a dead body is dragged up a mountain, chopped into pieces and offered to vultures in an act of kindness as they believe the birds are angel-like figures that take the souls to heaven.

8. Dance with corpses – It is a funerary tradition performed by the Merina tribe of Madagascar in which the body of the dead is exhumed from family crypts and wrapped in a new cloth. Then, members of the tribe dance with the corpse. Music, dance and animal sacrifice are also part of the tradition as they believe their ancestors serve as intermediaries between them and the gods.

9. Mourning of Muharram – It is observed by Shi'ite Muslims of Iran, Bahrain, Iraq, Pakistan, India and Lebanon to commemorate the Day of Ashura (the tenth day of Muharram). The men hit themselves with special metal chains that have sharp objects on it including razors and knives in order to mourn the death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein.

10. Bathroom ban – An ancient wedding custom followed by the Tidong tribe in Indonesia forbids the bride and groom from using the bathroom for three days and nights post the wedding in order to avoid bad luck and a broken marriage.