Find out the strangest cultural trends from around the world.

1. Presented By:
Ashik Santhosh
Strange Cultural Trends Around The
World

2. Childhood Can Be Awkward

3. Satere Mawe Tribe Initiation (Brazil)
 At age 13, the boys of the Satere Mawe Tribe of
Amazon Forest in Brazil undergo an initiation
ceremony to prove their worth as man
 The boys head off into the jungle to harvest the
angry bullet ants.
 One sting from the inch-long ant is said to be 30-
times more painful than a bee sting, or about as
painful as a gunshot, giving them their name.
 The chief elder intoxicates the ants in an herbal
mixture, knocking them out just long enough to
weave them into a special pair of gloves, with the
stingers pointing inwards.
 When the ants wake up, the ceremony begins.
The boys show courage by placing their hands in
the gloves for 10 minutes each while being led in
a traditional dance.

4. El Colacho (Baby Jumping), Spain
 This tradition is held in Castrillo de Murcia in
the north of Spain and has its origins in pagan
rituals and has been a local tradition since the
17th century.
 As a way to cleanse a new baby’s soul, the
tradition is commonly known as ‘baby
jumping’.
 Every year, on the Sunday after the Feast of
Corpus Christi, the event, which is now a mix
of both pagan and Catholic traditions
 It begins with a procession through town and
at the end of the walk, babies born in the
previous year are laid on a mat.
 Men dressed as the devil run between and
jump over the babies.
 Next, the leaders of the Catholic Church in the
Burgos Region cleanse them with holy water.

5. Rumspringa, USA
 The Amish, a religious community
largely based in many parts of
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana
celebrate a weird coming of age
ceremony called ‘Rumaspringa’
 At age 16, however, the Amish children
are allowed to experience life outside
the community for the first time.
 Rumspringa is meant to be a time for
the kids to fully explore their faith and
the real world, in order to be able to
come to a decision on their own whether
they want to return to the Amish Church
or not
 Teens can live on their own or live with
their families, buy cars, go to wild
parties, try alcohol for the first time, get
an education and much more.

6. Government Approved Names, Denmark
 Parents in Denmark have to choose
their baby names from a catalog of
names that the government has pre-
approved
 Denmark's Law on Personal Names
was put in place to protect children
from being laden with outlandish
monikers that are likely to incite
future ridicule
 And for parents who wish to diverge
from the list, they must seek
approval from the government
 About 1,100 novel names are
assessed every year and 15% to
20% of them are rejected, according
to the Times

7. Relationships Maybe Made In
Heaven

8. Post Humus Matrimony, France
 Postmortem matrimony has been legal in
France since the reign of Napoleon,
 But it was only enacted in 1959, when a
dam burst, killing 420 people, and a
bereaved woman who lost her beau in the
incident pleaded to marry him
 The living person is required to prove that
the couple intended to marry prior to
his/her loved one's death and obtain
permission from the family of the departed
 The living person does not acquire the
deceased's assets following the union, so
as to inhibit opportunistic gold diggers
from exploiting the law

9. Blackening the bride, Scotland
 In Scotland, friends of the bride
cover her with spoiled eggs,
feathers, milk or anything else that
is stinky and disgusting before the
wedding.
 The bride has to walk through the
town covered with all these terrible
things.
 The custom is associated with the
difficulties the bride will have to
face.
 If she is brave enough to be
covered with spoiled food products,
she is considered ready to deal with
all problems the marriage could
bring.

10. Chap Goh Mei, Malaysia
 On the seventh day of the seventh month
of the lunar calendar, women are
encouraged to write their phone numbers
on oranges before throwing them into the
closest river.
 This tradition called ’Chap Goh Mei’ is
practiced in the hopes that the man of
their dreams will pick up their orange and
call them.
 However, fruit vendors often collect the
oranges as they are considered a lucky
fruit and resell them at the market, even
with the phone numbers still on them.
 Traditionally, it was believed that there is
a matchmaker from the moon who would
tie red strings on the couple’s destiny,
blessing them and aiding them in finding
the right orange.

11. The dangers of remaining single
 In Germany, a person who’s still single at
age 25 is showered by friends with
cinnamon powder throughout the day.
 It is worse if the person is still single at
30 because they use pepper instead.
 In Germany, when a person reaches 25 and
is still single, friends will string socks from
the celebrant’s home to the birthday party
venue, with stops after a few socks while
friends encourage the birthday celebrant to
have a drink.
 In France, people buy funny hats for their
25-year old single friends on November 25,
which is Saint Catherine’s Day
 In Armenia, it is believed that if you are
single you should eat a salty piece of bread
on St. Sarkis Day as this will force you to
dream about your future partner

12. “Mere Color Can Speak To the Soul in a Thousand
Different Ways”
-Oscar Wilde

13. Red Ink, South Korea
 Historically in Korean culture red ink
was only used to note the names of
the dead on the family register.
 If the name of a living person was
written in red ink, it was considered a
sign that the person who wrote the
name wished harm upon the other.
 Now, using red ink is unacceptable
in the whole country, especially to
write down a name.
 It is considered rude and a sign of ill-
will against the person whose name
is noted, so it is best to simply avoid
the color altogether.

14. No Yellow Clothing, Malaysia
 Authorities in Malaysia banned its people
from wearing the color yellow because it
was the hue worn by protesters, who
demanded the resignation of the Malaysian
prime minister
 In August, amid demands that Prime
Minister Najib Razak resign after corruption
allegations surfaced, authorities decided to
disallow people from sporting the sunny
shade because it was the color worn by
protest organizers,
 The directive declared that the "printing,
importation, production, reproduction,
publishing, sale, issue, circulation,
distribution, or possession" of yellow t-shirts
are "likely prejudicial to public order

15. Gifts and Flowers
 In Russia, flowers with yellow colors as they
represent a break-up of a relationship or deceit.
 Red carnations are also a taboo in Russia
because these are flowers presented to
veterans who survived the war and on the
graves of those who have left this earth.
 When presenting your Chinese friends with
flowers, avoid using white, which they associate
with ghosts and death.
 But in the United States, white flowers symbolize
innocence and purity
 For the Chinese, a green hat means that the
wife is being unfaithful
 Offering or giving your Chinese friend or
colleague an umbrella is a subtle hint of ending
a relationship.
 In China, gifts should not be in set of 4 as the
number is associated with death.

16. Beliefs, Superstitions & Celebrations

17. Seven Years Ago Calender, Ethopia
 Ethiopia uses a calendar that is
about seven years behind the
Gregorian calendar
 Ethiopia lives seven years behind
the rest of the world based on its
alternate calculations of when Jesus
Christ was born
 The Ethiopian calendar follows the
beliefs of the country's Christian
Orthodox Church and is rooted in
the Coptic or Egyptian calendar,
which is about seven to eight years
behind the mainstream Gregorian
calendar

18. Penis Adorned Houses, Bhutan
 Many of the houses and buildings in
Bhutan are adorned with phalluses
based on the belief that they ward off
bad luck and evil spirits
 To the predominantly Buddhist
population, the male organ is a
symbol of fertility and wards off evil
spirits
 Phallic worship originated from a 15th
century Buddhist teacher, who
claimed he fought demons with his
member.
 Today, the penis portraits have
become more of a cultural symbol
than a spiritual one, and their
prevalence attracts throngs of tourists

19. Throwing of Broken Dishes, Denmark
 The Danes have a unique way of
celebrating New Year.
 During the year, people in
Denmark save any broken
dishes, plates, cups, or bowls
until New Year’s Eve.
 On the New Year, they throw the
broken dishware at the homes of
friends and family as a way to
wish them good luck for the new
year
 The tradition dates back
centuries and is one of the more
unique ways to ring in the new
year.

20. “Etiquette means behaving yourself a little better than
absolutely necessary”
-Will Cuppy

21. The Question of Punctuality
 In Venezuela, it is actually a norm to
arrive about 10 to 15 minutes late for a
dinner invitation. Being early for the
Venezuelans means the person is either
overly eager or greedy.
 Americans are a stickler for punctuality,
just like the Germans, South
Koreans and the Japanese.
 In Malaysia, being five minutes late
is acceptable and you do not need to
apologize for that.
 In Morocco, it is totally all right to be late
for an hour or an entire day
 It is fine for the Chinese if you are late
for 10 minutes while Mexicans and
Greeks will excuse you even if you
arrive 30 minutes after the appointed
time.

22. Mind Your Table Manners
 In Egypt, asking for salt is taken as an insult to the
host, as Egyptians take it to mean that you are
repulsed by the taste of the meal served to you.
 In Norway, even sandwiches are eaten using a fork
and a knife
 Hungarians swore not to clink their glasses when
having a drink for 150 years when they saw
Austrian generals celebrating their victory over
Hungarians in this manner. The vow ended in 1999
but a majority of Hungarians continues the cultural
tradition.
 In Turkey, it is not acceptable to split the meal tab
even if the lunch or dinner is given in your honor..
Offering to pay for half of the meal is considered
polite, but your host will be offended if you insist.
 In Bolivia, it is considered to be rude to discuss
business during a dinner party or any social
occasion.