I bet grooving and shaking with your deceased friend or turning a family member into a huge diamond has never crossed your mind, right? Well, you are definitely not the only one. And how about hiring a bunch of strippers to heat things up at your uncle George’s wake? Yup, our colorful planet is filled with different traditions and, if you want to know how strange they can really get, keep reading because I’m about to list 8 of them.
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Nope, it’s not a new hit comedy, strip shows are actually quite normal for funerals in China. I’ll risk sounding disrespectful by saying it’s kind of like an MTV sweet 16 party – the more people you have, the more popular you are. Having a lot of people attending someone’s funeral means the person was wealthy and is supposed to bring luck, so families of the deceased are prepared to really put themselves out there just to attract more people. And if that means hiring strippers, so be it!
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I like family reunions and, if you do too, think about incorporating a sentence “Thank you for not having any family in Madagascar” in your next Thanksgiving speech. Why? Because their idea of a family reunion involves digging out dead relatives, giving their remains a nice, fresh polish, dancing with the corpses and bones and burrying them again after the party is over!
Photo Credit: dahon
Nobody can fully explain why Bo people from South China preferred to have their deceased loved one’s coffin hanged on a rock instead of buried but, hey, this is definitely something worth seeing. These coffins can be found in various locations in China, Philippines and even Indonesia so, in case the road ever leads you there, make sure you pay them a visit.
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Being buried in a coca-cola shaped coffin is a bit wacky but I can’t help but smile at this one. Hey, if we must go down, we’d better go down with style…And if that involves coca-cola, an elephant or anything of that sort, so be it. I’m a supporter… as long as it’s personal, creative and doesn’t hurt anybody.
People in Sweden have found a way to make their death as environment-friendly as possible and themselves useful and, I daresay, everlasting. This special process first makes the body into powder so reusable elements like metals could be extracted while the “unusable” remains are packed into a biodegradable container and buried. Very green and very popular indeed.
Photo Credit: Sabbath Photography
That popular phrase “If I’m going down, I’m going to drag you with me” sure sounds threatening, and especially for a person that happens to be close to somebody from Fiji. You see, this old Fiji tradition demanded that, when a person dies, a friend, family member or a servant must go too to keep her company. The unfortunate one had then been strangled, laid next to corpse and buried with it.
Photo Credit: TheYoYoMaN
A very honorable and religiously correct way to die, at least according to Tibetan monks. In order to mummify themselves, these guys eat special food, are happily enduring hours of hard labor and are ready to resort to even the most radical methods like drinking poisonous drinks and eating maggot infested barks. Once a monk has been “prepared for mummification”, he goes to the stone tomb and awaits. His only responsibility is to ring the bell each day to let his fellow monks know he hasn’t gone yet.
Photo Credit: Jayt74
Why sacrifice your body for maggot food when you can start a completely new, sparkling life as a diamond? “Diamond funeral” involves burning a person’s body, turning it into dust and using that carbon to produce a diamond. I know it sounds crazy but this technique is actually gaining popularity because it enables people to stay with their loved ones for ever and give them a special (not to mention pricy) gift.
Have you ever witnessed some of these wacky rituals? I haven’t and I certainly don’t plan on doing so any time soon. Do you know of any other unusual traditions involving funerals?
Top Photo Credit: zen