Hundreds of communities around the world have their own customs and associated taboos. Let’s take a look at some of the most bizarre ones.

1. Taboos around the World
‘The world is a strange place’, this thought has often plagued the mankind but little does we
realize that we are the one who have added to the strangeness of this planet. Every civilization
that came brought with it certain customs and practices that generation later are following,
mostly on whim than logic.
Age old practices give rise to a phenomenon which is called superstition and taboos. They are
followed quite ardently and mostly the fear of bringing ill luck upon oneself prevents people
from ever breaking these customs or challenging these taboos. Let’s take a look at some of the
bizarre taboos that the human mind can formulate:
Different types of social Taboos

2. (Image Courtesy: www.nomoretaboo.org)
1) No sweeping the floor after dusk (India): If you have OCD or like cleaning your home
after sunset then you can get into a bit of a mess in India (no pun intended). It may
certainly not be against law but it is considered in-auspicious to sweep your home after
sunset and is something that is frowned upon.
2) White is an inauspicious color (China): If you plan to celebrate New Year in a traditional
town in China, just don’t pack any white attire. Chinese people, especially those with a
traditional bent of mind consider white to be a very inauspicious color, it is associated
with death and mourning and certainly not festivity. It is a huge Taboo to wear the color
of mourning during the festive time of New Year.
(Image Courtesy: SteveSpence.org)
3) Point with your whole hand (Vietnam): If you are in Vietnam and feel the need to point
at something, no matter how vague, use your whole hand and never point with just a
finger. It is considered extremely impolite to do so.

3. 4) Serve only half a cup tea (Kazakstan): No, people in Kazakstan are not misers and
neither are they inhospitable, rather it’s actually considered very polite to offer
someone half a cup of tea as offering a full cup means the host wants you to leave. Also,
later after having your tea, it is a custom to turn the cup down, it shows you are
finished.
(Image Courtesy: Advantour)
5) Albanians don’t say wolf (Albania): Yes, as bizarre as it might sound, the people of
Albania refrain from using the word wolf out of fear that an actual one might turn up.
Wolves are supposed to have sharp hearing but that’s not a legitimate reason for never
taking their name. The Albanians instead say mbyllizogojen, a diminution of the
sentence which means may God close his mouth.
6) Don’t make victory signs (New Zealand): If you are in New Zealand then it’s a good idea
to be vocal than make gestures, it may not go down well with the locals. It is a social
taboo to make V signs for victory or peace as in the country it instead translates to go
screw yourself. Now that’s not really a polite thing to say.

4. (Image Courtesy: Shutterstock)
7) Eat meat only if you can take on the spirit of the animal (Malaysia): The Orang Asli, a
group of people in Malaysia around 150,000 in number are known to not let their
children consume meat. Now this may not sound too bizarre until you hear the
reasoning behind it. The aboriginal people believe that every animal has a spirit, whose
strength and size depends upon the size of the animal itself and people should only
consume those animals whose spirits they can easily take on. Children are too young to
take on the spirit of big animals so they are made to stick with small fishes and frogs.
8) Menstruation is a strict no at Hindu Temples (India): God is equal for all and sees
everyone equally except if you are a woman menstruating. In that case stick to not going
to any temple or coming near a holy aisle in India. It is considered a taboo to come face
to face with any idol while you are bleeding and locals do not take this custom lightly.

5. (Image Courtesy: Women Planet)
Sexual Taboos
Sex is an intimate act between two people but if that act can cause unforeseen
happenings such as storms and hurricanes, then it requires an intervention of other
people. Sounds ludicrous? It doesn’t to the Semang of Malaysia.
The Semang of Malaysia is an ethnic group of the Malay Peninsula and they have a
strange custom where couples are only allowed to fornicate at night. If they did the act
during the day, it would bring devastation and usher in natural disaster such as
thunderstorm and lightning leading to death of the couple and other innocent people.
Now who thought sex could be so deadly!

6. The Ganda people of Uganda also consider it to be a taboo to have sex before any battle
or when trees are being processed in order to make canoes. Having sex before either of
the activity can have adverse effects and the tribal people prefer being on the safer side.
A taste of hospitality
If you thought it couldn’t get seemingly more bizarre from here, be prepared to be
surprised. Every country emphasizes on being hospitable to its guest and at times goes a
bit overboard but not as much as the people of the Samburu and the Maasai
communities. They are considered to be the most hospitable and welcoming community
in Tanzania and Kenya but their idea of hospitality might make you barf. They welcome
their visitor with a scrumptious meal of roasted meat often accompanied by a drink
which consists of fresh blood mixed with milk or straight from the source. Bon Appetite!
(Image Courtesy: Indigo Safaris)
Is there logic behind the peculiar?
These bizarre customs might have you wondering what goes on in the human head or
what really were our great ancestors thinking while creating such strange traditions.

7. Some ancient practices were backed by logical reasons such as lack of light at dusk
would have people sweep away their belongings littered on the ground, which is why
sweeping at dusk was not practiced during old times. The advent of electricity defeats
the whole purpose of this practice and yet it goes on. The story remains the same
behind many such strange taboos all over the world.
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