20 Strange Customs & Traditions Around the World – Part 2

Friendship Albums is a tradition among African-American women in the early 1800s from the middle/upper class. Empty books were passed around their circle and filled with philosophical, political, or creative writing and art. They are extremely rare antiques and only 5 such albums are known to exist today.

In several German towns, during an annual festival, it is a tradition for a group of women to storm the Town Hall and cut off the mayor’s tie, symbolically ‘taking over the town.’

Da Shuhua is a Chinese tradition of tossing molten iron onto cold bricks to create a dazzling light show. Da Shuhua has been classified as one of China's significant examples of intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO, and the provincial intangible cultural heritage in Hebei.

The Ma’nene is an odd tradition practiced in Indonesia. Every three years relatives of the dead dig up their deceased loved ones and dress them up in nice clothes. It’s believed to bring them good luck.

In Catalonia, there is a tradition involving a Tió de Nadal (Christmas Log). A log is brought inside one's living room, often referred to as a 'Poop Log'. It’s given a blanket and fed small treats. Come Christmas day, children beat the log with sticks, demanding that it poop presents for them.

Jazz Funerals is a New Orleans tradition in which a person is “buried with music” by a brass band and other musicians in a procession to their grave. “Second Liners”- people who dance to the music in all styles, accompany the music players to bury the person with respect.

There is a tradition in Nepal where a young girl is worshipped as a living Goddess on Earth. She is called as Kumari who is a pre-pubescent girl chosen from the Shakya caste of the Newari community of Nepal.

There is a continuing Easter tradition in Slovakia for men to get day drunk, throw buckets of water on women, and spank them with willow whips.

There is a Madagascan funerary tradition of exhuming their deceased loved ones every 5 to 7 years in a ceremony called 'Turning of the Bones'. It's a way to show respect and keep their loved ones’ memories alive.

Mari Lwyd is a Welsh Christmas tradition in which a horse's skull is dressed up and paraded around to people's homes on a stick. The participants then ask to be let in in song, and the householders reply in kind.