15 Strange Foreign Customs That Shock Americans

The Korowai tribe of New Guinea practices cannibalism.The Korowai tribe practices cannibalism.The Korowai practice cannibalism as a ritual to protect members from the khakhua demon.The khakhua.The Korowai believe the khakhua invades a living person and consumes them internally. The tribe then kills the affected person and eats nearly their entire body to get revenge on the demon and justice for the victim. This ritual happens less often now as the tribe meets the outside world.

The Toraja people periodically exhuming bodies.The Toraja people exhuming the bodies.The Toraja people exhuming their loved ones, putting special clothes on them, and parading them through the village. This ritual cleans the bodies, clothes, and coffins. If someone died outside the village, they parade their body back from where they died into the village to bring them home ceremonially.

For centuries, families at Baba Umer Durga, a Muslim shrine near Sholapur, India, have been practicing.They toss their babies from the top of a tower.Babies fall about 50 feet onto a bed sheet held by spectators below. This scary (but apparently harmless) ritual aims to bring prosperity and good fortune to families. No babies have been injured in this practice.

In Vanuatu, a small South Pacific island nation, men join a yearly harvest ritual called.Land diving.Land diving. It is like bungee jumping, but villagers make the jump platforms. They use vines, not bungee cords, as tethers. The goal is to make the vine just long enough so the jumper's shoulders touch the ground. If the vine is too long, the jumper might break his neck.

A.Sky burial.Sky burial is chopping up a dead person's body and setting the pieces for vultures to eat. Tibetans and Mongolians practice this part of their Vajrayana Buddhism. They think a body is just an empty shell, and vultures eating it carry the deceased's soul to heaven.

Body suspension.Body suspension involves hanging a person by hooks that pierce the flesh. The Native American Mandan tribe practiced this yearly for thousands of years. It served as a rite of passage for young warriors and a celebration of earth creation. Today, body suspension exists, but it has lost many ritual parts and is now a personal spiritual experience and test of strength.

Dogs are a popular food in Vietnam, Korea, and parts of China. The southern Chinese city of Yulin slaughters about 10,000 dogs annually for their.Dog meat festival.Many Chinese people believe eating dog on the summer solstice brings good luck for the rest of the year.

The Maasai people in Kenya regularly drink.Cow's blood.They mix milk with blood. They usually do not eat beef. Instead, they harvest blood and milk from their cows without killing them.

The Daur people of China have a custom. This custom requires engaged couples to kill andDissect a chick is a custom in China.to set a wedding date. They set the date based on the chick's liver. If the liver looks bad, they kill another bird until they find a good one.

Some Shiite Muslims honor theHussein's death occurred.a grandson of the prophet Muhammad. Men process with daggers, repeatedly striking themselves on the head. They reenact how Hussein died and mourn that they did not save him.

Self-flagellation in the Christian faith shows the whipping of Jesus before his crucifixion. The Roman Catholic ChurchPeople are excommunicated.The Church excommunicated the Flagellants in the 14th century. Today, Catholics still practice self-flagellation the week before Easter in the PhilippinesThis practice happens in the Philippines.This practice happens in Mexico and the Philippines.This practice happens in Mexico.. In the Philippines, some men complete the whole crucifixion process, including being nailed to a cross.

In Japan, it is polite and acceptable toPeople slurp noodles in Japan.the chef thinks you do not like the noodles if you do not slurp loudly enough.

In rural Scotland, a bride and groom face capture by family the week before their wedding andcover rotting trashparade them publicly. The belief is that if the couple survives this, their marriage can survive anything.

Most Americans gag at eating bugs. Insects are actually a common food in many other countries.around the world. China's best restaurants serve bugs as treats. Thailand serves fried bugs with beer, like peanuts. Mexico dips locusts in chocolate, and Brazil celebrates eating queen ants.People eat insects all over the world. China's best restaurants offer bugs as food. Thailand serves fried bugs with beer, like peanuts. Mexico dips locusts in chocolate. Brazil celebrates eating queen ants.

A Valencian town named Buñal celebratesLa Tomatina is the tomato fight in Spain.on the last Wednesday of August every year. People take to the streets and throw 150,000 tomatoes at each other. No one knows how the tradition began. One idea suggests that in 1945, during a parade, people started throwing tomatoes at woodland animals eating watermelons. One tomato hit a person, starting the huge tomato fight.