Becoming An Adult In These 25 Cultures Is Far From Easy. It’s Nearly Impossible
by N/A, 11 years ago |
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If you thought braces and last seasons hand-me-downs were bad parts of your youth, imagine what it would be like to grow up experiencing these rituals.
Nature
History
childhood
youth
adulthood
Humanities
Bizarre/Oddities
Teen Life
Culture/Ethnicity
Rite of Passage
teen ritual
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1. Bullet ant glove
The Satere- Mawe tribe require their boys to wear gloves with bullet ants inside of them without flinching for ten minutes.
2. Female infibulation
In parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, female circumcision is a dangerous, gruesome and traditional procedure.
3. Fulani face tattoos
Women in the West African Fulani tribe get facial tattoos before they're allowed to marry.
4. Mandan Okipa ceremony
Manadan boys can become warriors after they fast for four days without sleep, are hung from the ceiling with wooden skewers through their chests until they pass out.
5. Matis hunting trials
The boys of Matis tribe in Brazil first have poison poured into their eyes and then they go hunting. When they return they're beaten whipped and then injected with poison from the Giant Leaf Frog.
6. Enemy sacrifices
Boys in the Aztec empire began military training at age 17. They were considered men after they returned with a prisoner to be sacrificed.
7. Algonquin Indian trip
Young men in the Algonquin tribe are put in a cage and fed a drug called wysoccan that makes them forget their childhood memories.
8. Xhosa circumcision
The Xhosa boys are taken into the woods where they wait for a surgeon to circumcise them.
9. Naghol
This tradition is similar to bungee jumping but is done with vines in an attempt to come close to death and survive.
10. Pederasty
In ancient Greece, young boys had publicly sanctioned relationships with older men when they started their military careers.
11. The Ogiek roar
Boy and girls in the Ogiek tribe are secluded from adults, covered in clay and haunted by a mythical beast. They become adults when they can replicate its roar.
12. Hamar cow jumping
The Ethiopian Hamar tribes boys are whipped in front of their families and then have to run across the backs of cows before they're allowed to marry.
13. Mardudjara circumcision
The men of the Mardudjara tribe undergo circumcision and other gruesome genital disfigurement before being considered men.
14. Iria ceremony
Young girls in the Nigerian Okrika tribe sing by the river until a man comes to rescue them because the tribe believed they have a tie to water spirits.
15. Matausa cleansing
The Matausa perform a purification ritual that involves sticking wooden canes down their throats until they vomit. Then wooden reeds are put up their nostrils and their tongues are stabbed until their blood is considered pure.
16. Masai lion hunt
The men of the Masai tribe were required to kill a lion before they were able to join the army.
17. Sweet sixteen
No expenses are spared for young girls on their 15th or 16th birthdays in Western culture.
18. Sambian purification
Boys are taken from their homes at age 7 and brought to an all-male hut for 10 years. They ingest semen and engage in forced vomiting and defecation before they're considered men.
19. Vision Quest
It is common for Native American tribes to send their youth out into the wild while fasting so they can find direction in their lives.
20. The Krypteia
Spartan boys as young as 12 participated in this violent ritual where they would wage war against the helot population without fear of punishment.
21. Aboriginal walkabout
Aboriginal tribes in Australia send their young men into the wild for months at a time. They must survive unassisted before returning and being considered men.
22. Mentawai teeth sharpening
Young girls in the Mentawai tribe sharpen their teeth because they believe it makes them more beautiful.
23. Fula whip watch
Young boys in the Fula tribe must whip a boy from another tribe before they'll be considered men.
24. Festa de Mocas Nuevas
Young girls in the Ticuna tribe are secluded from everyone else when they begin menstruating. It is believed that they go into the underworld and return as women.
25. Scarification
Scarification is a common practice throughout a the world, but the Sepik River tribes in Papua New Guinea use it during their weeks long initiation ceremony.
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