The world is full of people who believe in different religions, customs and traditions. This article talks about some of the weird religious practices across the world. Some of these religious practices are commonly followed but some are very unusual and unheard-of. These different kinds of weird beliefs and practices can be linked to blind faith or superstitions which have been followed by many generations. Some of them are so strange that it becomes difficult to believe that such rituals really exist.
Although such practices are found all over the world, India is particularly known for many of these strange beliefs and traditions.
India is a country which has come a long way in the field of growth and technological development. It is one of the major educational hubs in today’s world. People from far and wide come to India to pursue their higher studies and do research work. Yet there lies another side to this image.
Even today, different kinds of religious practices and age- old rituals are followed in some parts of the country primarily by the uneducated minds. Illiteracy is rampant in majority of Indian states which is responsible for the prevalence of such weird practices. Here are some of them—
The Bani Festival
This festival is celebrated in Andhra Pradesh at the Devaragattu temple in Kurnool. The religious practice followed here involves devotees hitting each other with sticks to the extent that there is a lot of bloodshed. The belief is that Lord Shiva is fighting with the demons.
Precaution is duely taken by the local authorities by arranging medical facilities to attend to a seriously injured person and police is also present to prevent too much violence. Nevertheless this is a strange practice where you physically hurt one another.
Tossing Infants from the Roof
This practice is even more horrifying than the previous one where Infants less than 3 months old are thrown up into the air from a height of nearly 50 ft to fall on a sheet of cloth held by men standing below.
This is practised both by Hindus as well as Muslims in Baba Umer dargah near Sholapur, Maharashtra and also in Sri Santeswar temple in Karnataka. This is of course done very carefully because there have been no reports of any infant getting injured. It is a 700 year old practice.
Theemithi
This is a ritual practised in Tamil Nadu, where devotees walk on burning charcoal. It is symbolic of Draupadi walking on a bed of fire after the battle of Kurukshetra. This is thus done to invoke the blessings of Draupadi.
Madey Snana
Also known as ‘spit bath’, this religious practice is disgusting apart from being weird. Practised in Karnataka at the Kukke Subramania temple, the lower caste people have to roll on the leftover food eaten by the Brahmins on banana leaves, as they believe that this would cure them of their ailments.
There was a lot of resentment towards this ritual and was banned in 2010. But later due to the demand of the Malekudia tribe, this ban was lifted. Such is the blind belief of the people of this part of the state.
Thaipoosam
This religious practice is held in honour of Kartikeya, the elder son of Shiva and Parvati. Here devotees are seen piercing their tongues, cheeks and other parts of their bodies with sharp hooks and skewers.
It is believed that they go into a trance and do not feel any pain. However for an ordinary person the sight is far from pleasant.
Kesh Lochan
This is one of the weirdest kind of ritual practised in Jainism. Although they believe in non violence, yet this practice can be considered as a primitive form of self torture. When a man is newly initiated into Jainism, he has to shave the hair of his head like in other religions. But no. Here the practice is to pull out every strand of hair by the person himself which can be terribly painful causing wounds which are then covered with either ash or cow dung.
The belief behind this extreme torture is to cut oneself away from human vices like pride and beauty which hair is symbolic of. The pain is a reminder to let go of all worldly attachments.
Aadi Festival: Coconut Smashing on the Head
This ritual takes place in the Mahalaxmi temple in Karur of Tamil Nadu. Here the devotees have coconuts smashed on their heads. This absolutely crazy kind of practice originated during the British rule when this Mahalaxmi temple came on the path of a railway track which was to be constructed here.
However, the local people vehemently opposed the proposal. The British authorities asked the people to prove their faith by smashing coconuts on their heads. If they succeed in doing so then the railway track would be laid elsewhere. The people fulfilled this condition and thereby saved the temple from demolition.
Even to this day, the practice still continues as people believe that it will bring them prosperity and good luck.
Tower of Silence
The Parsi community follow a religion called Zoroastrianism. The customs of these Parsis is primarily based on purity. The strangest ritual is their treatment of the dead. They believe that burying or cremation pollutes mother earth. So they adopt a ritual called sky burial.
The dead bodies are taken to the roof of this Tower of Silence and left there to decompose naturally or be fed upon by vultures. However in recent times vultures have nearly become an extinct species which has forced the Parsis to cremate the bodies through solar reflectors. It indeed is a strange practice.
Strange but true, these weird religious practices make us realize that we live in a world which is full of rituals which are difficult to believe and even more amazing to experience.
Human being has achieved the impossible in the world of science and technology through advanced machinery and equipment. But, religion continues to be a sensitive topic where logic and reason do not hold any significance weird practices still continue in many parts of the world especially India.
