This is a list of some interesting and weird rituals in which people belonging to different cultures disposed their loved ones to the God, after they have ceased to live. Some bury their loved ones while others burn them. But there are some never heard of most bizarre funeral traditions in the world that you are going to be shocked after knowing. Read ahead to know about these shocking death rituals and traditions from around the globe.
Here is the list of some most bizarre funeral rituals from around the world.
Mass Scavenging
This ancient ritual practice by the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. The ritual involves throwing all the dead people in a vicinity of town, village or city in one pit and then letting wild animals loose for them to feed on the dead bodies. This way the relatives do not need to perform any other methods like burial and cremation. Disposing of the bodies through this method lets the dead live only in one form in the hereafter and they have no belongings in the real world, not even their own bodies.
Famadihana
Famadihana is a funerary tradition of the Malagasy people in Madagascar. Known as the turning of the bones, people bring forth the bodies of their ancestors from the family crypts and rewrap them in fresh cloth, than dance with the corpses around the tomb to live music.
This is a way of the Malagasy people to remember their dead relatives and loved ones from time to time. These people dig out the remains of their dead one’s body at regular intervals and wrap them in fresh clothes. They bury them again after carrying them around their villages.
Hanging of Coffins
This ancient ritual practiced by the old Chinese Dynasties involved the displaying of coffins on high rock cliffs. They believe that coffins need to be close to the sky so that their dead can be closer to heaven. The coffins were actually discovered by the archaeologists among the remains of these ancient civilizations. Setting of coffins meant that the still thought of their dead in the highly respectable positions and their ghosts and spirits are free to roam around the hills and rocks.
Sati
Sati is a very old tradition from the religion of Hinduism. It is rarely practiced nowadays. Sati was a sort of punishment given to a woman whose husband has died, i.e. it primarily involved widows. Not only Hindus, but some other cultures are also known to practice this tradition.
The widow was forced to burn herself as a way to sacrifice herself to the mighty powers in respect of her husband’s death. The main reason of this ritual practice could be that an alone woman has no place in this world after her husband’s death and she must sacrifice herself willingly before the Gods.
Exposing Dead to Vultures
Another bizarre tradition being revitalized by the Parsi community of Mumbai. Mainly a ritual practiced by the Zoroastrian religion, by first preparing the dead by cleansing and bathing them and then setting them up on Towers of their religious temples to vultures. The idea behind this tradition is that the dead must get rid of their physical forms and must only survive in one being, i.e. their spiritual selves.
Strangulation
This modern practice has derived ideas from the ancient ritual of Sati. The traditional funeral ceremony on the South Pacific Island of Fiji involves killing of the near and dear ones of the deceased. The practice implies that the dead ones should not be left alone in the other world and must be accompanied by a loved one in the hereafter so as to make the process of death less painful.
