Marriages and rituals associated with marriages differ from Country to Country and from caste to caste and also from tribe to tribe. Although these rituals holds some cultural and religious significance, some of them are so bizarre that it almost makes you go WTF?
1.Brazil: Men in a tribe in Brazil compete with each other to convince women to have sex with them by giving them gifts.
2.Cambodia: Divorce is Illegal; special shelters are built where girls spend nights with different men until they find a suitable groom
3.China: A month before wedding, bride starts crying everyday for an hour, 10 days later her mother joins her and 10 days later her grand mothers join them, by the end of the month every female in the family is crying alongside the bride and this is considered to be expression of joy and as every women cry in different tones, this does seem like a song.
4.East Africa: In East Africa, many girls get everything ‘stitched’ down there except for a small opening to pee and for free flow of their menstrual blood- All in the name of preventing Pre-marital sex! In short, the female genitalia are mutilated. Females having non-mutilated genitalia are considered ‘dirty’.
5.Ghana: A Widow needs to spend a night with a complete stranger in order to cleanse herself from the spirit of her deceased husband.
6.India: Bride-groom has to leave his shoes outside the altar and then starts the game of cat and Mouse. Bride’s sisters and friends then try stealing the shoes of the groom and groom’s brothers and friends safeguard them. If the bride’s sisters and friends are successful in stealing the shoes, they held them ‘ hostage’ until they get ransom paid for the shoes by the groom
7.India: In India, if a women is born Manglik (when Saturn and Mars are under 7th house) she is first supposed to get married to a tree, the tree is then cut down and burnt, This is to prevent the apparent untimely death of her husband. If both the bride and the bride groom are born Maanglik then there is no issue of getting married to a tree.
8.India: When there is a problem with girl’s kundali (horoscope), she is married to a dog to ward off obstacles that stand between her and her wedding.
9.Ireland: While dancing, the Bride’s feet have to touch the ground at all times. It is believed that if she raises her feet then fairies will sweep her away as fairies like beautiful things.
10.Kenya: In Massai wedding, the father spits on the head and breast of his daughter before she leaves for her husband’s place.
11.New Guinea: A Tribe in New Guinea allows their kids to have sex even at a tender age of 6-8 years; but any couple should not share a meal before marriage.
12.Scotland: Friends throw some of the most disgusting things at you and then tie you to a tree- If you can handle this, apparently you can handle anything- even marriage 😉
13.Sudan: In Sudan, a marriage is not complete unless the woman gives birth to 2 children, if she fails to do so, the husband can seek divorce
By:Archa Dave
