Strange Customs
- In Lebanon, men are legally allowed to have sex with animals, but the animals must be female. Having sexual relations with a male animal is punishable by death. (Like THAT makes sense.)
- In Bahrain, a male doctor may legally examine a woman's genitals, but is prohibited from looking directly at them during the examination. He may only see their reflection in a mirror.
- Muslims are banned from looking at the genitals of a corpse. This also applies to undertakers; the sex organs of the deceased must be covered with a brick or piece of wood at all times. (A brick?)
- The penalty for masturbation in Indonesia is decapitation. (Wonder which head?)
- There are men in Guam whose full-time job is to travel the countryside and deflower young virgins, who pay them for the privilege of having sex for the first time. Reason: under Guam law, it is expressly forbidden for virgins to marry. (Let's just think for a minute; is there any job anywhere else in the world that even comes close to this?)
- In Hong Kong, a betrayed wife is legally allowed to kill her adulterous husband, but may only do so with her bare hands. The husband's lover, on the other hand, may be killed in any manner desired. (Ah! Justice!)
- Topless saleswomen are legal in Liverpool, England - but only in tropical fish stores. (But of course!)
- In Cali, Colombia, a woman may only have sex with her husband, and the first time this happens, her mother must be in the room to witness the act. (Makes one shudder at the thought.)
- In Santa Cruz, Bolivia, it is illegal for a man to have sex with a woman and her daughter at the same time. (I presume this was a big enough problem that they had to pass this law?)
- In Maryland, it is illegal to sell condoms from vending machines with one exception: prophylactics may be dispensed from a vending machine only "in places where alcoholic beverages are sold for consumption on the premises." (Is this a great country or what? Not as great as Guam, however)
Modern Funeral Customs
Death is approached from a standpoint of fear, and the rituals have roots going back centeries based on superstitions.
Many of our funeral customs have their historical basis in pagan rituals.
- Modern mourning clothing came from the custom of wearing special clothing as a disguise to hide identity from returning spirits. Pagans believed that returning spirits would fail to recognize them in their new attire and would be confused and overlook them.
- Covering the face of the deceased with a sheet stems from pagan tribes who believed that the spirit of the deceased escaped through the mouth. They would often hold the mouth and nose of a sick person shut, hoping to retain the spirits and delay death.
- Feasting and gatherings associated with the funeral began as an essential part of the primitive funeral where food offerings were made.
- Wakes held today come from ancient customs of keeping watch over the deceased hoping that life would return.
- The lighting of candles comes from the use of fire mentioned earlier in attempts to protect the living from the spirits.
- The practice of ringing bells comes from the common medieval belief that the spirits would be kept at bay by the ringing of a consecrated bell.
- The firing of a rifle volley over the deceased mirrors the tribal practice of throwing spears into the air to ward off spirits hovering over the deceased.
- Originally, holy water was sprinkled on the body to protect it from the demons.
- Floral offerings were originally intended to gain favor with the spirit of the deceased.
- Funeral music had its origins in the ancient chants designed to placate the spirits.
Life Customs
While most Muslims are circumcised at birth, Turks wait until the age of 7 or 8, so that the boy may consciously experience the ordeal and remember it. The “sunnet” or ritual circumcision is a classic rite of passage marking the time when boys symbolically leave their mothers to become men. Like some Australian aboriginals and many African groups, the Turks hold elaborate circumcision rituals.
The day before the event, boys wear white clothes with red ribbons and are paraded through town on the backs of donkeys or in decorated cars. Once circumcised, the ribbons are removed, and the boys are placed on large, lavishly decorated beds, where they receive guests and gifts and are complimented on their bravery.
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Like all generations of Apache women, pubescent girls are chanted into womanhood by the elders of their tribe. Over the course of 4 days, she will reach back toward the origins of her people, taking on aspects of white painted woman, the primordial Apache mother.
“Now you are entering the world.
You become an adult with responsibilities...
Walk with honor and dignity...
For you will become the mother of a nation.”
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When the Congolese Kota paint their faces, they reenact one of humanity’s oldest and most vital passages, the transformation of boys into men. The Kota realize that for the adult to be born, the child must symbolically die. With ghostlike masks of blue, they signify the phantom of their childhood. Boys who undergo this initiation know when childhood ends, when adulthood begins, and what their society expects from them.
* * *
In Zaire, when a girl of the Lesse tribe reaches first menarche, she begins her puberty initiation. She secluded in a menstrual hut for up to a month with other girls her age. Men and boys are strictly excluded, and older women of the community instruct the girls about sex and child rearing.
Add your customs and rituals. Even an Apostofest can be considered as a ritualitic custom of beer and apostate fun.
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