In the world, it is not uncommon to have strange, bizarre, even creepy customs, many of which have now been abolished.
Geisha is a famous traditional Japanese entertainment art form. The word geisha is also used to refer to girls working in this field. They are people who have both the ability to sing and dance, and the ability to talk and entertain guests.
There are many misunderstandings, especially outside of Japan, about the nature of the geisha profession. Geisha is a kind of healthy, high-class cultural art performance, completely free from prostitution, vulgarity, and cheapness.
The geisha girls just “forever work, not prostitution”.
In its heyday, Japan had a lot of geisha. In the 1900s, for example, the number of geisas reached 25,000. In the early 1930s, the number was 80,000. Most geisha operate in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan. Today, the number is significantly reduced. Currently, there are only about 10,000 geisha left in Japan, of which about 100 are active in Tokyo.
True geishas are also increasingly rare. Today’s modern geishas don’t have to enter geisha houses since they were children and aren’t sold here because of poverty anymore. Instead, they volunteered to do this work.
However, geishas still have to follow the same training rules as before. Young girls who want to become geisha must learn all the traditional Japanese arts, from dancing, singing, music to painting, and many more.
In ancient Chinese history, eunuchs appeared from the Western Zhou period. There are many other words to refer to eunuchs, for example, eunuch, public, inner city, neutral, insider…
By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the power of eunuchs began to consolidate as they became more respected. Due to having the right to act as messengers, oversee the army, examine mandarins, and people, many eunuchs abuse their power. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the number of eunuchs reached 70,000.
Not only China, eunuchs also appeared in many other cultures, especially in ancient Eastern societies, with similar “functions” .
In addition, casting a boy before puberty appears in some cultures as a way to maintain pitch, clarity and tone, creating a special voice so that the child can later sing soprano. .
Polygamy is an economic measure of a man’s wealth in some places.
Men with high social status or wealth often took many concubines, also known as concubines. The status of the concubine is always lower than that of the first wife, also known as the main wife. Therefore, their children born also have lower status than brothers.
Began to prevail in Western countries from the 15th to the 20th century, dueling was a form of competition using deadly weapons of the nobility, especially in France. From the 15th to 18th centuries, gladiators often used swords. But from the 18th century onwards, earning was replaced by guns, weapons that only the nobility could possess.
A duel challenge scene.
After a challenger by one side, a battle is held to resolve disagreements, personal conflicts, or restore honor. Gladiators have the right to send representatives to compete if they want.
In a duel, gladiators don’t usually aim to kill their opponents first. Instead, they prove they are willing to risk their own lives to wash away humiliation, restore personal honor…
Hara-Kiri is an ancient ritual of the Japanese samurai. This was an important part of the samurai culture (bushido) but is now abolished.
A samurai’s suicide by caesarean section.
According to this rite, a samurai would slaughter himself when he was “fallen” or when his master died to avoid falling into the hands of the enemy, to be humiliated, or to show the absolute loyalty of the leader.
However, samurai could also be ordered by lords or monarchs in feudal Japan to cut open their own stomachs. Later, disgraced or guilty samurai were allowed to dissect themselves instead of being executed in the usual ways.
Since the main purpose of this ritual was to protect honor, those who did not belong to the samurai class would never have to or be ordered to perform this ceremony. The female samurai were only allowed to perform this ritual when instructed.
Before dissecting his own stomach, the samurai had to bathe, wear a white ao dai, and eat his last meal. Then, the instrument for performing the self-cutting ritual was placed on a samurai plate.
Before committing suicide, the samurai would write a farewell poem. Next, they take off their kimono, take a short sword (wakizashi) or knife (tantō) and stab it in the stomach, cutting a line from left to right.
At the end of the ritual, the samurai could have someone else cut off his head (called a kaishakunin). The kaishakunin would perform a neat slash, known as a daki-kubi, that would nearly cut off the samurai’s head from its body (leaving only a thin strip of flesh attached to the head to the body).
This is the ritual of killing people to sacrifice to gods or supernatural forces. This practice took place in many ancient cultures around the world; in which, the sacrificial rites in different regions have different characteristics.
Ancient Maya and Aztec are two cultures that once maintained this custom.
Victims were turned into sacrifices, often prisoners, infants or virgins, to please or appease the wrath of the gods. Forms of sacrifice include: cremation, beheading or burial.
The practice of using living people as sacrifices is considered a crime and is banned worldwide. However, it is thought that, in the most remote and isolated areas of the world, some peoples may still perform similar rituals.
This is a custom that was common in feudal China about 1,000 years ago and only applied to young girls. Appearing from the Tang Dynasty, by the 12th century, the custom of foot binding became “fashionable” in the “nobility” , especially for the ladies of noble and regal families. However, by the end of the Ming dynasty, this custom spread to the whole society and became the standard of beauty. The smaller the girl’s feet, the more chances she has of picking a prestigious husband.
The feet are deformed because of the custom of foot binding.
Therefore, during this period, Chinese girls between the ages of 5 and 7 must begin the ritual of binding the feet while the bones are still soft and malleable. Grandmothers and mothers are often the ones who tie the ribbons (usually 3m long, 5cm wide) around the legs of their young daughters. The tighter the bandage, the more chances the girl has of having beautiful legs later on.
In the early years of foot binding, girls will suffer excruciating pain and be unable to walk. If there is no help, to move they have to crawl or crawl. In the following years, the heels began to harden, because during the process of foot binding, the girls could only move with their heels, but absolutely could not walk with their feet or the tips of their toes. The horrifying beauty process ends when the girls own perfect feet, usually 7cm – 10cm long.
Self-immolation (sati) is a practice of Hindus. Accordingly, when the husband died and was cremated, the widow had to jump into the pyre with her husband.
Many Hindu widows also set themselves on fire with their husbands.
The act of self-immolation according to her husband is propagated as a voluntary act, but in reality, most widows are forced to perform the gruesome practice. It is believed that, if widows perform Sati, their family will have good luck for 7 generations. On the contrary, they will face scorn and curses from relatives and the community.
There are many explanations about the origin of this custom. One of them said that sati is to prevent the possibility of the wife having an affair and poisoning her husband. Another theory is that sati originates from the legend of a jealous queen. This woman accepted to die with the king to continue to keep her husband in the afterlife. This practice is now banned in India.
Sokushinbutsu is the name for monks who mummify themselves. These monks, in order to embalm themselves, had to go through a painful process of training.
A self-mummified body of a Japanese monk.
Before carrying out the 3-year embalming process, they will have to follow a strict diet. In this way, the fat and parts of the monks’ bodies, which can rot after death, are almost atrophied.
The next phase of the Fasting process is even more extreme. For the next three years, the monks ate a little bark or root and began drinking a poisonous tea made from the sap of the Urushi tree. This helps to lose body fluids quickly. More importantly, however, the poison in the tea kills all kinds of creatures that can cause the body to rot after death.
Finally, the self-mummified monks would lock themselves in a stone tomb no larger than their bodies and meditate. They only communicate with the outside world through a snorkel and a bell. Every day, the monk would ring the bell to announce that he was alive. When the bell no longer rings, it means the monk is dead and the tomb is sealed.
Relatives watch as the vultures eat the dead body.
The “sky tomb” is a funeral rite in the Chinese provinces of Tibet, Qinghai, and Mongolia. Most Tibetans and Mongols believe in the Vajrayana school of Buddhism that teaches people. about the reincarnation of the soul. According to this school, when a person dies there is no need to protect the body because the corpse is like an empty vessel. So the dead will be chopped up and made food for the vultures. This is called a form of sky burial. The only place they don’t touch the knife is the head, but only the brain is exposed because this is the place where the soul and consciousness are stored. This is a creepy custom that has existed for a long time in Tibet.
Remaining body parts will be placed in the tower for one year. Men and women will be placed in different places.
Before performing the ceremony, the ceremonial monks – known as lamas – chant mantras throughout the body and scatter cedar. The body is then either monk or machine, chopped into pieces. According to Buddhist teachings, it is easier to use a cutter, which means that the soul of the dead can pass away faster.
It is difficult to fully understand the process of sky burial of Tibetans because they strongly oppose people who come to see it just out of curiosity. But they say, the whole body will make food for the vulture.
The reason Tibetans donate dead human flesh to vultures is because they consider this bird a “divine bird”. They believe that the body eaten by the vulture is a good omen, and the dead person will quickly be saved. Currently, the Chinese government also bans this practice.