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The weirdest rituals in the world

by Aaron Hotfelder (RSS feed) on Nov 5th 2009 at 12:30PM

In the town of San Juan Chamula in southern Mexico, I entered a church completely unprepared for the what I saw. Pine needles and hundreds of small lit candles covered the entire wooden floor, where worshippers were kneeling and chanting incantations. In front of each group of worshippers was a 3-liter bottle of Coca Cola, which the faithful drank periodically and used to, well, burp, in an attempt to keep away evil spirits.

This custom mixing Christian and (mostly) Mayan beliefs, I thought to myself, must be one of the most unusual rituals in the world. Well, turns out I wasn't even close.

Over at Vagabondish, Turner Wright takes a look at the 8 Most Bizarre Rituals in the World, including Indian baby-tossing, Kenyan blood-drinking, and Japanese fire-walking. Also from Japan: A fertility festival in which participants carry a huge wooden penis around town. (It takes place every March 15 in the town of Komaki; book your flight today!)

Whole thing here.

Filed under: Kenya, Japan, Mexico

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