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10 Extreme Rituals to the Gods and Ancestors
1. Take your racehorse to church
In Siena, Italy, each neighbourhood asks God’s help for victory by blessing their horse in church prior to the city’s ritual horserace, the Palio.
2. Wear magic amulets and dance your prayers for victory
n Senegal, wrestlers perform energetic dances and rituals to summon support and courage from the ancestors to help them win their fight.
3. Become the Night Owl
n Australia, Otto Campion wears the mask of the Night Owl spirit for the Dow ceremony, to teach the next generation respect for their land.
4. Dash with a divine flame down a dangerous mountain
In Shingu, Japan, men reconnect with Shinto spirits by burning torches painted with their wishes at a mountain shrine. The most courageous then run down the 538 steep, stone steps in just 26 seconds, delivering the sacred flame to the community below.
5. Climb to a sacred glacier at 5000m to be ritually whipped
n Peru, ancient clans initiate new members at the sacred Qullqipunku glacier in the Andes. Part initiation, part baptism, this ritual is rooted in Incan tradition and now also fused with Catholic ceremony. Afterwards, the clans stream back down the mountain.
6. Fast, be pierced, then carry a heavy ritual burden up to a cave shrine.
At Thaipusam festival in Malaysia, some devotees fast for 48 days, have their cheeks pierced with a symbolic spear, and then carry religious burdens heavier than their own weight for miles, to honour their vows to Lord Murugan, the Hindu God of War.
7. Ride into ritual battle and risk your life.
On the island of Sumba, it’s believed the ancestor spirits will deliver a good harvest if human blood is spilt. So for ‘Pasola’ farmers become warriors, riding into ritual battle armed with spears.
8. Cut your skin to gain the power of the spirits.
For the Kaningara people of Papua New Guinea, a rite of passage sees their skin ritually cut to resemble crocodile scales. Each cut is said to be the bite from Nashut the crocodile spirit, and it’s believed the marking allows them to take on his power so they can become men.
9. Buy your place in the afterlife.
For the Torajan people of Indonesia, the dead remain at home for months or years after death, whilst the family save up for the most elaborate funerals on Earth. Lasting days and often costing over £100,000, they provide the dead with status as they enter the afterlife.
10. Give up your possessions, family and hair to save your soul.
Jain nuns follow a path of extreme austerity in the belief it will liberate their souls. They own nothing, have no home, and aim not to hurt any living creature. At their initiation they must give up all family ties, and let go of all personal desires by allowing the hair on their head to be plucked out by hand.
