4 wildest customs around the world
Miscellaneous / / June 14, 2022
Antics sumo wrestlers in front of children, the oddities of Madagascar justice and meditation, lasting for centuries.
1. Fighting crying babies in Japan
What do you think it takes for your newborn child to live a long and happy life? Maybe provide him with a healthy diet, care and concern?
No, you have to give it to a huge 150-kilogram yokozuna so that he scares the small one out of hysterics.
In Japan there is customv. R. Williams. Celebrating Life Customs around the World, called nakizumo, or naki sumo, - "wrestling of crying babies." Every year there is a festival of sumo wrestlers and children under the age of one year. Parents bring their babies to temples in all cities of the country and give them into the hands of wrestlers.
Sumo wrestlers are divided into pairs, and each scares his ward in all possible ways: making faces, making strange sounds, shouting Japanese curses and even throwing him into the air. The baby who cries the loudest is declared the winner.
Nakizumo has been around for at least 400 years, and there are still at least a hundred kids participating in the annual festival. Japanese
considerJapanese Folklore Dictionary / Folklore Institute of Japanthat children's cries and screams scare away demons and evil spirits. This means that a screaming child will be healthier and happier than his quieter comrades. The inhabitants of this country even have a proverb: "Crying children grow faster."So do not worry, sumo wrestlers act solely in the interests of the younger generation.
2. Vomit court in Madagascar
In the 19th century, Madagascar was ruled by the most evil queen. Just like in Disney cartoons, only she killed people for real. Her name was Ranavaluna I.
Her Majesty's policy was mass repression and terror, which ledG. Campbell. The State and Pre‑Colonial Demographic History: The Case of Nineteenth‑Century Madagascar / The Journal of African History to reduce the population of subjects from 5 to 2.5 million people only between 1833 and 1839.
Majesty was especially noted for the fact that she completely abolished the judicial system, replacing it with the so-called tangen test.
That is the essence of this legal practice. On the island of Madagascar, the Cerberus Mangas tree grows, locally called tangena. It contains the poison cerberin, which, if ingested or even inhaled, can kill. Or at least summon the strongest vomit.
And at least since the 16th century, the inhabitants of Madagascar appliedR. K. Kent. Early Kingdoms in Madagascar, 1500‑1700 poison to find out if a person is guilty of witchcraft or other serious crimes. To do this, at the trial he was allowed to swallow three pieces of chicken skin and poison from the fruits of tangena.
If the subject vomits and all three skin fragments return to the light - innocent, forgive. If a piece is missing - guilty, execute. If he died from poison, it means that he is still guilty, but it is too late to execute him. Then at least we forbid burying in the family cemetery - as a sorcerer and a rebel.
It is easy to guess that few passed the test with such rules - as calculatedR. K. Kent. Early Kingdoms in Madagascar, 1500‑1700 historians, only half of the defendants survived the effects of the poison.
However, this tradition was not widespread until the beginning of the reign of the aforementioned Ranavaluna I. She also decided to test with a tangen in general all potential criminals who were reached by the long arms of justice. And while the queen was on the throne, about 3,000 people a year died in the courts, and the total amountR. K. Kent. Early Kingdoms in Madagascar, 1500‑1700 the number of people killed by the tangen was about 100,000 - about 20% of the population.
Only in 1863, King Radama II declared these tests illegal, debunked the cult of personality of the insane Queen and ordered to rehabilitate the deceased accused, allowing them to be reburied in family cemeteries.
3. Ant initiation in Brazil
People try to prove their masculinity to others in different ways. Someone is trying to master hand-to-hand combat, someone is conquering Everest, and someone is building an outstanding career. But the warriors of the Satere-Mawe tribe from the jungles of Brazil look with a grin at these pitiful attempts.
From their point of view, the main quality that characterizes a man is the ability to endure pain.
In the lowland forests of South America inhabitJ. L. capinera. Encyclopedia of Entomology the so-called bullet ants, or clavate paraponera. These charming creatures reach 2.5 cm in length and live in large colonies. They have powerful jaws that ooze the strongest poison - poneratoxin. He cannot kill, but causes monstrous suffering.
According toSchmidt pain scale / NHM.ac.uk According to entomologist Justin Schmidt, the pain of a single ant bite is reminiscent of "walking on hot coals with three-inch nails stuck in the feet." He describes his sensations as "waves of burning, throbbing, all-consuming pain that does not weaken for a whole day."
Satere Mawe useA. T. Dossey. Chemical Defenses of Insects: A Rich Resource for Chemical Biology in the Tropics / Chemical Biology of the Tropics ants to check if the young man is strong enough to be considered a warrior. They weave gloves from palm leaves, stuff them with these insects, and then put them on the test subject. His task is to hold out for five minutes without screaming in pain.
Particularly courageous can still to smileJ. L. capinera. Encyclopedia of Entomology and joke. But you can just stand and frown menacingly, so that your fellow tribesmen do not think that you are trying to hide fear behind a grin.
The one who could not stand it and screamed is not a peasant, he is not fit to be a hunter. Those who endure five minutes in ant gloves will then sit for several days with paralyzed hands, shaking from convulsions and hallucinations to watch. But everyone will respect them.
If you think that this sounds somehow not very scary, keep in mind: to complete the initiation, the young men go through this rite about 20 times over several months.
4. Self-mummification in Tibet and South Asia
Usually the word "mummy" is associated with ancient Egypt. But the idea of drying a person in order to keep his body for worship and reverence as long as possible was widespread not only there. The Himalayas, Tibet, mountainous China and Japan also had their mummies. And they differed from the Egyptians in that they made themselves.
How can a Buddhist monk who has embarked on the path of holiness and concentration achieve true austerity? That's right, stop eating, drinking, breathing and transform into a bodhisattva - a real Buddha, having reached nirvana.
Process calledBernard Faure. The Rhetoric of Immediacy: A Cultural Critique of Chan/Zen Buddhism sokushimbutsu and takes exactly three thousand days, that is, approximately 10 years. Of these, the monk remains alive for about six. For the first thousand days, the Buddhist ascetic simply begins to eat less in order to drive off as much adipose tissue as possible.
This is necessary so that the mummy, after the completion of the procedure, is preserved for centuries to come and impresses descendants.
For the next thousand days, the monk completely passesBernard Faure. The Rhetoric of Immediacy: A Cultural Critique of Chan/Zen Buddhism on a diet of pine bark and roots, as well as the poisonous juice of the urushi tree - the same one that Japanese armor and scabbard for katana are varnished. It accumulates in the tissues of the ascetic, dehydrating the body to the very worst, which is why the internal organs seriously lose their size.
And finally, on the third thousand days of the monk, who by that time can no longer rise from the lotus position, placed in a pine wood box filled with salt and fitted with an air tube and a bell.
While the poor fellow has not yet left samsara, once a day he coming outI. Hori. Self‑Mummified Buddhas in Japan. An Aspect of the Shugen‑Dô (“Mountain Asceticism”) Sect / History of Religions out of meditation and wiggles a finger to which a bell string is attached. When the calls stop, his brethren understand that the ascetic is completely immersed in nirvana, and the breathing tube is removed.
When the third thousand days are completed, the monks inspect the contents of the box. If an ascetic shows signs of decay, it means that the ritual failed, that he was not holy enough, that he did not try hard. He will be buried, as usual, however, demonstrating every respect for his self-denial.
If mummy perfectly preserved - the monk became a bodhisattva. He is placed in a stupa - not the one where the grain is crushed, but in a stone round structure - and worshiped like a living Buddha.
The monks sincerely believe that the saint is still alive and continues his penance. One, for example, has been in a glass box for more than 550 years meditatesBernard Faure. The Rhetoric of Immediacy: A Cultural Critique of Chan/Zen Buddhism - Lama Sangha Tenzin, born in the 14th century and found in a walled stupa in India only in 1975. According to legend, when he reached nirvana, a rainbow appeared over his village and all the scorpions in the area died.
It is estimated that over 900 years of sokushimbutsu practice into a "living buddha" could turn intoBernard Faure. The Rhetoric of Immediacy: A Cultural Critique of Chan/Zen Buddhism only 24 monks, who are now even occasionally shown to tourists. The rest, who failed to become incorruptible, went to be reborn. The last time the ritual was performed in Japan in 1903, after which the emperor banned self-mummification.
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