The 10 most incredible customs in the world

In the world, there are not many strange, weird, even, horrible customs in it, many of these customs are now removed.

10. Geisha

Geisha is a famous traditional entertainment art of Japan. The word geisha is also used to refer to girls operating in this field. They are the people who have the talent for dance and music and have the ability to chat and entertain themselves.

There are many misunderstandings, especially outside Japan, about the nature of geisha. Geisha is a kind of healthy and high-class cultural and artistic performance, absolutely not acts of prostitution, profanity and cheap.

The geisha just "keep on technology, not prostitution".

In the heyday, Japan had a lot of geisha. For example, in the 1900s, the number of geisa amounted to 25,000. In the early 1930s, the number was 80,000. Most geisha operate in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan. Today, the number decreases significantly. Currently Japan only has about 10,000 geisha, of which about 100 people operate in Tokyo.

Real geisha are also becoming scarce. Modern geisha do not have to go to geisha houses since they were young and were not sold here due to poor families. Instead, they voluntarily do this work.

However, geisha still have to follow the training rules as before. Young girls who want to become geisha must learn all the traditional Japanese arts, from dancing, singing, music to painting as well as many other skills.

9. The eunuchs

In ancient Chinese history, eunuchs emerged from the West Zhou period. There are many other words to refer to eunuchs, for example, eunuch, public, inner, middle, inner, etc.

By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the power of the eunuchs began to be strengthened when they were used more. Due to the right to be a messenger, to look after the army, to consider the mandarins, the people should be very polite. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the number of eunuchs amounted to 70,000.

Not only China, eunuchs also appear in many other cultures, especially in ancient Eastern societies, with similar "functions."

In addition, a pre-puberty boy appears in some cultures as a way to keep height, clarity and bar, creating a special voice so that the child can sing soprano later on. .

8. Get married

Polygamy is an economic measure of how rich men are in some places.

Men with high or rich social status often take concubines, also called concubines. The position of concubine is always lower than that of the first wife, also known as the failure. Therefore, their children are born with lower status than brothers.

7. Challenge duels

Beginning to be popular in Western countries from the 15th to the 20th century, the duel challenge is the form of competition using the lethal weapons of nobility, especially in France. From the 15th to the 18th centuries, gladiators often used swords. But from the 18th century onwards, swords were replaced by guns, weapons that only nobles could possess.

A scene of a duel challenge.

After a party challenges, the battle is organized to resolve disagreements, personal conflicts, or honor restoration. Gladiators are entitled to appoint representatives to compete if they wish.

In a duel, the gladiators don't aim to kill the enemy first. Instead, they prove themselves willing to risk life itself to wash humiliation, restore personal honor .

6. Suicide

Hara-Kiri is an ancient rite of Japanese martial artists. This is an important part of bushido, but is now abolished.

A suicidal ceremony of a samurai.

Under this ritual, a samurai would self-peck on his stomach when he was "lost" or when his master died to avoid falling into the enemy's hands, humiliated or to show the leader's absolute loyalty.

However, the samurai may also be ordered by the lords or monarchs in Japanese feudal society. Later, the samurai who were disgraced or guilty were allowed to slaughter themselves instead of being executed in the usual ways.

Because the main purpose of this ritual is to protect honor, those who do not belong to the samurai world will never have to be ordered or ordered to perform this rite. The female samurai was allowed to perform this ritual only when instructed.

Before slaughtering himself, the samurai had to bathe, wear a white long dress, and eat the last meal. After that, the device to perform the self-surgery rite was placed on a samurai plate.

Before the suicide, the samurai will write a farewell poem. Next, they took off the kimono, took the short sword (wakizashi) or the knife (tantō) and stabbed the abdomen, cutting a line from left to right.

At the end of the ritual, the samurai could ask others to behead their heads (called kaishakunin). The kaishakunin will perform a neat slash, called daki-kubi, that almost breaks the samurai's head from the body (leaving only a thin strip of flesh attached to the head).

5. Sacrifice people

This is a murder ritual to worship gods or supernatural forces. This practice takes place in many ancient cultures around the world; in which, sacrificial rituals in different regions have different characteristics.

Ancient Maya and Aztec are the two cultures that have maintained this custom.

The victims were turned into sacrifices, often prisoners, babies or virgins, to please or ease the anger of the gods. Types of sacrifices include: cremation, beheading or burying alive.

The current use of living people as sacrifices is considered a crime and is banned worldwide. However, it is thought that, in the most remote and remote areas of the world, some ethnic groups may still carry out similar rituals.

4. Bundle your legs

This is the custom that was popular in feudal China about 1,000 years ago and only applies to young girls. Appearing from the Tang dynasty, in the 12th century, continued to become legs of 'fashion' in the "aristocrats" , especially reserved for the women of noble and royal families. However, by the end of Minh's life, this practice spread to the whole society and became the standard of beauty. The younger the girl is, the more likely she is to have a good chance of being proud.

The feet are deformed because the legs are tight.

Therefore, during this period, Chinese girls from 5 to 7 years old had to start the ritual of leg tightening when the bones were still soft and easy to shape. She and her mother are often the ones who tie the ribbon (usually 3m long, 5cm wide) to wrap their little girls' legs. The more bandage wrapped, the more chance the girl had to own beautiful legs later.

In the early years of the legs, the girls will suffer extreme pain and cannot walk. Without help, they have to crawl or crawl. In the following years, the heel began to harden, because during the leg tightening process, the girls could only move with their heels but could not walk with their feet or toes. The appealing beauty process ended when the girls owned perfect feet, usually from 7cm - 10cm long.

3. Self-immolation by husband

Self-immolation (sati) is a custom of Hindu devotees. Accordingly, when the husband dies and is taken to cremation, the widow must jump into the pyre according to her husband.

Many Hindu widows also have to burn themselves to their husbands.

The act of self-immolation by husband is propagated on the basis of voluntariness, but in fact, most widows are forced to carry out grisly customs. It is believed that, if the widow performs Sati, their family will be lucky in seven lives. On the contrary, they will face contempt and curses of relatives and communities.

There are many interpretations about this origin. One of them said that sati aims to prevent the possibility of adultery, poisoning the husband. Another theory is that sati originates from the legend of a jealous queen. She accepted to die with the king to keep her husband in the afterlife. This practice has been banned in India.

2. Self-mummification

Sokushinbutsu is a way of calling monks self-mummification. These monks, to self-mummify, must go through a painful practice.

A mummified corpse of a Japanese monk.

Before the 3-year mummification process, they will have to comply with a strict diet. In this way, the monk's fat and part of the flesh, which can rot after death, almost atrophy.

The next phase of the process abstains even more harshly. For the next 3 years, the monks made only a few bark or roots and began drinking a poisonous tea made from Urushi resin. This helps to lose body fluids quickly. More importantly, however, the poison in tea will kill all kinds of organisms that can cause the body to rot after death.

Eventually, monks self-embalming themselves will lock themselves in a stone tomb that is no wider than a body and meditate. They only contacted the outside world through a snorkel and a bell. Every day, the monk will ring the bell to announce that he is alive. When the bell stopped ringing, it meant that the monk was dead and the tomb was sealed.

1. The funeral in Tibet

Relatives watched the vultures eat the bodies of the deceased.

This is a grisly custom that has existed for a long time in Tibet. Dead bodies will be cut into small pieces, placed on top of the mountain and become bait for scavengers, especially vultures. Hardware like bones will be smashed with sledgehammer, mixed with malt, thrown to crows and hawks. The only place they did not touch the knife was the head that only left the brain out because it was a place of soul and consciousness.

The reason why Tibetans donate human flesh to vulture birds is because they consider this bird 'divine'. They believed that the body was eaten by vulture birds, and the dead will soon be escaped. The Chinese government also banned this practice.