There sure are some unique celebrations around the world, and it turns out some of them are so special that we can’t believe them.
Indonesia
There are parts of Sulawesi, Indonesia, where death is a lot more involved than you might expect. The people there have a festival called Ma’nene, which involves Torajan families reopening tombs and bringing out preserved relatives.
They’ll then clean them up and dress them in fresh clothes. Some families fix the coffin too, while also taking family photos and spending time around the body. Then they’ll return it to the ground. The families do it as a way to keep ties with relatives who have died.
Philippines
Some church services get pretty intense. Good Friday in Pampanga, the Philippines, takes it to the next level. Yes, in several towns, devotees allow people to drive real nails through their hands and feet. They then raise them on wooden crosses as part of a reenactment of Jesus’ crucifixion.
Not everyone does that, of course. Some of the others carry heavy crosses or whip themselves, and one participant, Ruben Enaje, has been through the crucifixion ritual dozens of times. It’s not something the Catholic Church encourages. Still, it draws crowds each year.
Czech Republic
That’s not all for strange Easter celebrations. On Easter Monday in the Czech Republic, some people celebrate using willow branches. Men and boys traditionally carry a braided switch called a pomlázka. They’ll lightly tap women and girls with it.
Not to be mean or anything, but because of old ideas linked to youth and health. They’ll decorate the branches with colorful ribbons. It’s not all on the men, though, because the women usually give them painted eggs or sweets in return. It’s certainly one way to celebrate.
Vanuatu
Bungee jumping is one thing, Naghol on Pentecost Island in Vanuatu is another. It involves male natives climbing huge wooden towers and tying vines around their ankles. They then jump headfirst toward the ground. Some of these towers can reach about 98 feet, so it’s pretty dangerous.
The people are very careful to choose the right vines because, really, that’s the whole safety system. They do the ritual as part of the yam harvest. It’s also a rite of passage, and yes, it’s as risky as it sounds. It’s not like there’s an elastic cord or padded landing area, after all.
Bolivia
Try walking into La Paz’s Ñatitas festival in Bolivia. You might see real human skulls wearing hats and sunglasses. They might even be smoking cigarettes. It’s all part of the festival, and people may ask them for help with money or health.
They also ask them for love and protection. A few people offer coca leaves and alcohol to the spirits, making the whole thing a lot more cheerful than you might expect. It’s nowhere near as morbid as it might sound.
Denmark
Being single at 25 in Denmark can make your birthday into quite the celebration, although not in the way you might be thinking. It’s a lot spicier. Literally. Friends may soak you with water and then dump cinnamon all over you until every part of you is covered.
Your clothes, hair, pretty much everything else is coated. The tradition is linked to an old idea about traveling spice sellers who stayed unmarried because they were constantly on the road. That doesn’t make dealing with all that mess any easier, though.
Japan
The Konomiya Shrine in Inazawa, Japan, is where one of the nation’s most unique festivals takes place. It’s called Hadaka Matsuri, or the ‘naked festival.’ The participants, who are usually thousands of men, don’t get fully naked. They wear little more than traditional loincloths, though.
The event dates back about 1,250 years, and the participants crowd together. They try to touch a specially chosen man believed to absorb their bad luck. It actually can get quite intense. The festival does happen elsewhere in Japan, too, but Konomiya is especially famous because of how many people are involved.
Scotland
The rule in Scotland is that, before the wedding, there’s the blackening. It happens in parts of the north, where friends grab the bride or groom. They cover them in foul-smelling and sticky substances before parading them around in public. It’s pretty gross.
There are many versions of the mixture. Some include flour, some include syrup. Others have feathers, soot, and food scraps. It’s linked to older Scottish pre-wedding traditions, although something tells us that it’s not actually that romantic.
Turkey
Turkish coffee is something that you’d normally want to get right, but apparently not always. Traditional marriage visits in Turkey involve the bride-to-be deliberately ruining one cup by loading it with salt.
She’s then supposed to give it to the groom as part of a custom called tuzlu kahve. Now comes the hard part. He’s supposed to drink it without making too much of a fuss, and to make it even harder, the families watch him.
Austria
December 5 in Austria looks a lot less like Christmas and more like Halloween. It’s a day when people dress as Krampus in shaggy fur and huge horns. They wear carved masks and heavy bells before marching through streets and town squares.
Krampus is a figure traditionally connected with St. Nicholas, but he’s more like the Mr. Hyde to Santa Claus’s Dr. Jekyll. There are even organized Krampus runs in some Alpine regions, and a few of the costumes are enormous. The masks are pretty creepy, too.
Spain
The New Year countdown is quite a mouthful in Spain. People try to eat 12 grapes as midnight strikes, one for each chime of the clock. They try to finish them before 12 in time for good luck. It might sound easy, sure, but it’s actually way harder.
Madrid’s Puerta del Sol clock is the famous national reference point, and they broadcast the chimes around the country. You find some families doing it at home and some crowds doing it outside. Plenty of people end up chewing frantically by grape eight.
Germany
That’s not all for Europe. Turning thirty already has enough pressure attached to it, but in Bremen, Germany, it involves a broom, too. A man who’s unmarried before he turns 30 may be marched over to St. Peter’s Cathedral. He has to sweep the steps while he’s there.
The whole time, his friends keep tossing bottle caps back onto the ground. How helpful. Women have their own traditional version, and they clean door handles instead. Kind of strange to think that they turn an ordinary birthday into a public chore.
India
Turns out, the bride and groom can both be frogs in India. Some villages in the country have full wedding ceremonies for the animals in the hope of bringing rain. They do the whole wedding thing, with music and prayers, along with decorations and crowds.
They’ll dress up the frogs sometimes, too, just for extra effect. You’d be surprised at how elaborate the whole celebration can actually get.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s Cheung Chau Bun Festival sure does get competitive. Climbers race up a tower about 46 feet high at midnight, grabbing as many buns as they can before time runs out. It’s not exactly easy since there are around 9,000 buns attached to the structure.
The modern competitions do use replicas, though, rather than fresh buns. It’s a little easier that way. The ones near the top score more points, so that’s where everyone tries to go. The competition is actually part of larger parades and religious events. But really, the giant bun tower is definitely the most exciting part.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
