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>>30888640
>A Rashaida wedding guest from Eritrea arrives on camelback accompanied by his three wives. Rashaida wedding rites take place over a period of up to 7 days in a lrage tent decorated by the bride during the days before the wedding. Festivities begin with the slaughter of a camel by the groom, and continue with feasting, dancing, & camel racing to entertain the guests.

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>>30888652
>The long narrow tunics worn by Wodaabe dancers from Niger have been elaborately embroidered by female relatives: each design has a name & tells a story. The men also wear leather talismans containing both writings from the Koran for protection from evil spirits, and secret herbal potions to increase the power of their performance.

>>30888640
i believe they also have a hunting method where they just walk up to lions eating a kill and try not to show any fear. the lions get freaked out and bail and the hunters take what they can before the lions wise up and eat them.

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>>30888659
>On festive occasions, Surma children from Ethiopia decorate their bodies using chalk & earth pigments to create fanciful patterns. To reveal their close bond to one another, best friends often paint their faces with identical designs.

>>30888664
This is the single most badass thing I've ever heard.

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>>30888668
>In Ghana, the display of gold at the Ashanti king’s jubilee in 1995 was unsurpassed in splendor. This Adioukrou Queen Mother, attending the jubilee, indicates her status by wearing gold turtle & crocodile talismans in her hair. Magnificently bedecked in gold jewelry & wearing gold dust makeup, she exhibits her husband’s substantial authority & worth.

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>>30888677
>When all the guests have gathered at the bride’s village, the Tuareg ritual called Tendi begins. Seated in a small circle, women chant songs on the pursuit of love, while clapping, ululating, and beating the Tendi drum. The men mount their camels & circle around the singers. Proud of their fierce warrior heritage, Tuareg men from Niger like nothing more than to show off their handsomeness & that of their animals.

>Also, was told by an Algerian anon on /int/ that Tuaregs were the most hospitable and honorable people he knew.

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>>30888691

>The Tuareg are best known for the men's practice of veiling their faces with a blue cloth dyed with indigo. Early travelers' accounts often referred to them as the "Blue Men" of the Sahara Desert, the region where many Tuareg live. It is believed that the Tuareg are descendants of the North African Berbers, and that they originated in the Fezzan region of Libya. They later expanded into regions bordering the Sahara, bringing local farming peoples into their own society.

OP do you have any interesting facts about the Maori?

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>>30888705
>Unlike women in many other Islamic societies, most Tuareg women do not wear veils in public. They may also independently inherit property and begin the process leading to a divorce.

>Tuareg men begin to wear a veil over the face at approximately eighteen years of age. This signifies that they are adults and are ready to marry. The first veiling is performed in a special ritual by a marabout. He recites verses from the Koran as he wraps the veil around the young man's head.

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>>30888706
Unforunately, no, sorry. The only ones I have our tribes and races of Africa, Afghanistan and India.

>In Sumatra, if you committed adultery with the chief's wife, you were killed and eaten (your family had to supply the limes and salt to season your dead ass). Tahitian guys used to crush their opponents corpses with a club, cut the dude open, pull his insides out, and wear him around like a kimono. In Fiji they would eat your brains and use your skull to bail water out of their canoes, and guys in Iban couldn't get married until they’d taken an enemy head in combat.

>>30888711
>The veil that Tuareg men wear on their faces has several meanings. It is, first of all, a symbol of male identity. It is also thought to protect the wearer from evil spirits. In addition, it is considered an attractive adornment and can be worn in various styles. The face veil is worn differently in different social situations. It is worn highest (covering the nose and mouth) to express respect in the presence of chiefs, older persons, and in-laws.

This shit's awesome.

MOAR.

>>30888751
OP here. Feels good to know someone's interested. Just a minute, someone's at the door.

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>>30888706
As a Kiwifag I know a few things.

Never sit somewhere people sleep or eat. The backside is vulgar (noa), pillows/table are sacred (tapu).

Lizards (ngarara) are considered immensely tapu. Women were not allowed to handle them although some would have one tattooed near their vagina. In the post-colonial period a radical group called the Lizard-eaters (Kai Ngarara) literally ate lizards to represent the violation of tapu that had resulted from European contact.

Maori practiced a kind of mummification. The practice of preserved severed heads (mokomokai) is well known, but high-born people would often be interred in dry caves and remained preserved for centuries.

>>30888770

Thanks, that's pretty interesting. Usually all I hear about them is that they used to eat people and are hueg and play rugby

>>30888770
>Never sit somewhere people sleep or eat. The backside is vulgar (noa), pillows/table are sacred (tapu).

Yeah, if I get another Otaran telling me not to sit on a table, I will kill a nigger.

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>>30888799
>Usually all I hear about them is that they used to eat people and are hueg and play rugby
I know a lot of people are familiar with the tattoos (moko). They're like books or a family tree. A person who knows how to read one can tell everything about you from it. For example a curl on the left side of your chin means your mother was a great weaver, a fernleaf on your cheek means your family is high-born, and the pattern on the brow shows which god you're dedicated too.

Women got moko on their chin. Slaves were usually tattooed on half their face to show their status. When Europeans got into the market for dried heads, many slaves received elaborate but totally nonsense moko just so they could be killed, smoked and sold.

Tattooing was done with a sharktooth on a stick. The experience was so painful and traumatic the reciepent was blind for several days afterwards. They were expected to remain completely still and silent the whole time. Because they were too tapu to touch during the ceremony, they had to be fed by hand.

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>>30888733
> The Bishnois are known as the conservationists to whom the preservation of animal and plants is a religion and it has been so from the early 15th century. There is a ban on killing animals and felling green trees, and thus protection is provided to all life forms. The community is also directed to see that the firewood they use is devoid of small insects.

>Wearing blue clothes is prohibited because the dye used for coloring them is obtained by cutting a large quantity of shrubs. Bishnois are aggressive in protecting trees and animals, most of them being vegetarian and nature worshipers. The dead are buried and not cremated to save forest wood.

>They are the most colourful and exotic wanderers in the ruins of desert, who keep moving from one village to another in search of work and livelihood. The Bishnoi women wear attractive attire of vibrant colors such as red and orange, silver trimmings and the gorgeous jewellery like heavy nose rings, earrings, bangles, anklets and necklaces.

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>>30888857

>The Maasai live in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya & Tanzania. Maasai men move from one stage of life to another with elaborate ceremonies marking each passage. The ritual cycle extends over more than 25 years, beginning with circumcision.

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>>30888871
>The 7 day celebration called Kokuzahn, honoring the Voodoo diety, Flimani Koku, takes place once every 3 years. Dancing devotees in states of deep trance spin faster & faster to the rhythms of Voodoo drums. They are protected fom harm by wearing fiber skirts made from the Alatsi tree, and by smearing a paste made of palm oil, maize flour and herbs on their bodies.

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>>30888640
The Balisong is the traditional knife of the Batangueno people of Batangas province, Philippines

Traditionally every batangueno is given one upon reaching manhood. Women too.

>>30888849

Damn OP that's some turnt up shit. Major respect for having the balls to do that

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>>30888879

>During the courtship season, a Wodaabe girl from Niger may flirt with two men who may both become her lovers. Should she decide to marry one of them, the other will alwaays be welcome in the camp of her husband, who will generously offer her for the night–but only with her consent.

>>30888882
The post wasn't made by me. I wonder if that's how they tattoo themselves nowadays too.

>>30888895
>The post wasn't made by me. I wonder if that's how they tattoo themselves nowadays too.
Kiwifag here - hell no bro, that would be illegal these days. It's still very sacred and formal, but done with modern hygenic techniques.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS3GE3lw6SA

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>>30888895
>In celebration of their impending graduation, Maasai warriors from Kenya launch themselves into a leaping dance known as “Empatia”. Throughout the ceremony, young Maasai girls adoringly accompany their warrior boyfriends. The beaded collars & headbands the girls wear are dessigned to bounce rhythmically as they dance to enhance their bodilly movements.

>>30888819
>says the monkey who sits on fucking tables

It's called a chair, retard.

>>30888882
I've found a scene from the Kiwi movie River Queen, when the white girl Queenie has to go full Maori and get a chin moko; gives a good idea what it must have been like.

http://youtu.be/kGvPUdx0Vpw?t=3m10s

>>30888895
>During the courtship season, a Wodaabe girl from Niger may flirt with two men who may both become her lovers. Should she decide to marry one of them, the other will alwaays be welcome in the camp of her husband, who will generously offer her for the night–but only with her consent.

This is pretty darned cool in my books.

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>>30888909
The Jats are divided into 12 chief clans and about 230 minor gotras. Though the origin of the Jat tribe is shrouded in mystery, but the Jats betray tribal traits. Agriculture has always been the main occupation of the Jats, but they also form the bulk of the military and the police. The Jats are brave and hardworking who possess both the desire and ability to rule. Many Jats were recruited into the Indian Army during World War I. Before that, they served as fighters in the Persian army. The Jats form the largest ethnic groups in the army.

>The Jats occupy their own niche in the mosaic of stereotypes in the Indian consciousness, and the stereotype can turn out to be startlingly alive: a marshal race, patriarchal, brawny, artless, proud, phlegmatic, blunt, impetuous, fight-ready. The Jat reputation for aggression comes from a frustration that other people are unwilling to listen to the truth.

>Historian Irfan Habib once quoted Huein Tsang’s 7th century account of encountering what Habib speculates were the Jats, where Tsang says these people “have no masters” and mentions their “unfeeling temper” and “hasty disposition”. These stereotypes have lent to many sayings about them:
>Jat tab mada jania jab uski chauth aa lay. (One can't be sure a Jat's dead until the fourth day).
>Jat ne haathi gadhe ik se laage ae. (The elephant is just a large donkey to a Jat)

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>>30889096
>Veiled from the age of 5, Rashaida women from Eritrea are required to cover their faces when they are in public. When they eat, they pass food beneath the mask, and when they sleep they must still remain lightly covered. The mask is removed only when they are alone with their husbands.

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>>30889102
>A distinctive feature of Rajput society is its clans. More than 103 clans have been identified in all.

>Rajputs marry outside their clan. They also try to marry their daughters into clans of higher rank than their own, while accepting daughters-in-law from clans of lower rank.

>Rajput marriages are arranged. Marriages are occasions for great ceremony and feasting. The groom, accompanied by friends and relatives, rides in a procession to the bride's house. Mounted on a horse, he is dressed in colorful robes, with turban and sword. A piece of cloth is tied to the edge of the bride's sari and groom's coat. The couple walks around a sacred fire while Brahmans (priests and scholars) chant prayers. This is known as agni puja (fire-worship ceremony). Several days of celebration follow.

>In 1303, when the fort of Chitor in Rajasthan was about to fall to Muslims, the Rajput Rani and all the women in the fort burned themselves to death to avoid being taken prisoners. Women who practiced this act of sati were revered as saints and stone sati memorials exist in Rajasthan. Despite abundant folklore surrounding this tradition, it was never widely practiced.

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>>30889156
>The Hazara are of Mongol descent; descendants of soldiers left in Afghanistan by Genghis Khan in order to occupy the region. Their Mongol physical characteristics and their language have long distinguished them from the other ethnic groups of the area. Their language, called Hazaragi, is an Indo-Iranian tongue with many words borrowed from Mongol. Many Hazara also speak Dari Persian as a second language.

>Traditionally, the Hazara were nomads herding sheep, goats, and horses. Now, some earn a living through mixed grain farming. The major crops are wheat and barley, and a variety of fruits are also grown. Many of the men work as cobblers, porters, water carriers, or trash collectors. This willingness to perform menial tasks has had an adverse effect on them; it earned them a reputation as hardworking people, while also resulting in their being looked down upon and discriminated against.

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>>30889179
>>30889179
>The code of behavior of the Wodaabe emphasizes reserve and modesty (semteende), patience and fortitude (munyal), care and forethought (hakkilo), and loyalty (amana). They also place great emphasis on beauty and charm.

>Parents are not allowed to talk directly to their two first born children, who will often be cared for by their grandparents. During daylight, husband and wife cannot hold hands or speak in a personal manner with each other.

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>>30889209
>Kyz kuu, is a traditional sport among the Azerbaijanis, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz. It exhibits some elements of horse racing, but is often referred to as a "kissing game".

>A game is usually conducted as follows. A young man on horseback waits at a given place (the starting line). A young woman, also mounted, starts her horse galloping from a given distance behind the young man. When the young woman passes the young man, he may start his horse galloping. The two race towards a finish line some distance ahead. If the young man is able to catch up to the young woman before they reach the finish line, he may reach out to her and steal a kiss, which constitutes his victory. However, if the young man has not caught up to the young woman by the time they reach the finish line, the young woman turns around and chases the young man back to the starting line. If she is in range of the young man, she may use her whip to beat him, which signifies a victory for her.

>>30889209
Wow, that's pretty extreme.

I mean, the first two kids are the ones you'd probably be closest to, right?

>>30889179
>This willingness to perform menial tasks has had an adverse effect on them; it earned them a reputation as hardworking people, while also resulting in their being looked down upon and discriminated against.
Not cool, guys.

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>>30889273
>A bride stays with her husband until she becomes pregnant after which she returns to her mother's home, where she will remain for the next three to four years. She will deliver the baby at her mother's home and then she becomes a boofeydo, which literally means "someone who has committed an error." While she is boofeydo, she is not allowed to have any contact with her husband, and he is not allowed to express any interest in either her or the child. After two to three years, she is permitted to visit her husband, but it is still taboo that she should live with him or bring the child with her; this only becomes permissible when her mother has managed to purchase all the items that are necessary for her home.

>>30888671
>>30888664
lions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YY4f4OF0BM

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Move over Ireland, there's a people in the world even more ginger than you.

>Anthropologists relate Udmurts to the Urals branch of Europeans. Most of them are of the middle size, often have blue or gray eyes, high cheek-bones and wide face.[citation needed] The Udmurt people are not of an athletic build but they are very hardy and there have been claims that they are the "most red-headed" people in the world. Additionally, the ancient Budini tribe, which is speculated to be an ancestor of the modern Udmurts, were described by Herodotus as being predominantly red-headed.

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>>30889292
>At the end of the rainy season in September, the Wodaabe travel to In-Gall to gather salt and participate at the Cure Salée festival, a meeting of several nomadic groups. Here the young Wodaabe men, with elaborate make-up, feathers and other adornments, perform dances and songs to impress women. The male beauty ideal of the Wodaabe stresses tallness, white eyes and teeth; the men will often roll their eyes and show their teeth to emphasize these characteristics. The Wodaabe clans will then join for their week-long Guérewol celebration, a contest where the young men's beauty is judged by young women.

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>>30889304
More Udmurts. There's some speculation they're the "Rus", or "Redheads" that gave Russia its name.

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>>30889310
>Europeans were struck by the Naga practice of headhunting. Ursula Graham Bower described the Naga hills as the "paradise of headhunters." "Most villages had a skull house and each man in the village was expected to contribute to the collection. The taking of a head is symbolic of courage, and men who could not were dubbed as women or cows. There is nothing more glorious for a Naga than victory in battle by bringing home the severed head of an enemy." There was no indication of cannibalism among the Naga tribes. Headhunting has been eradicated since conversion to Christianity and the spread of modern education in the region.

> The Nagas have a deep faith in the soul which transmigrates after the death of person. The head being the receptacle of the soul was, therefore, regarded as an object of immense vitality and creative energy. Head hunting was propelled by the desire to acquire a head for retention in one’s house or village which would, as a result, be blessed with human and animal fertility. The head of a woman with long hair was specially precious, as it would stimulate an abundance of food crops. The taker of a head gained fame for prowess in the art of war and was, therefore, sought after by young girls.

>The practice of head-hunting was accompanied with a variety of other social and cultural activities.

>>30889356
tfw no qt 3.14 Naga waifu

>>30888652
>Festivities begin with the slaughter of a camel
>and continue with camel racing

Short race, then?

I'm going to bed, OP; just wanted to say I enjoyed the thread.

>>30889381
On the contrary, it never ends.

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>>30889356
>Several historians have identified them as the only authentic descendants of the Aryans left in India.

>Historians say the original Brogpas were a group of soldiers from Alexander's army who lost their way while returning to Greece after the war with Porus or simply people from Baltistan in PoK.

>They reached Dhahnu and settled there since it is the only fertile valley in Ladakh.

>The Dards are completely different from Ladakhis physically, culturally, linguistically and socially, says Norboo, a scholar who has done extensive study on Dards.

>>30889310
:D.jpg

Shit, my posts have started coming up as spam.

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>>30889406
>>30889406
>Bedouins, as nomads, do not have the concept of incarceration. Petty crimes, and some major ones, are typically settled by fines, and grievous crimes by corporal or capital punishment. Bedouin tribes are typically held responsible for the action of their members; if the accused fails to pay a fine, the accused's tribe is expected to pay and becomes obligated to the tribe.

>A widely-quoted Bedouin saying is: I against my brothers, I and my brothers against my cousins, I and my brothers and my cousins against the world

I hate to sound /pol/, but why are 90% of these culture's brown? White people can be interesting too, if you talk about it the same way.

"Despite hundreds of years of oppression and a violent campaign against it, the people of Wales hold an annual ceremony called an Eisteddfod. This ceremony strives to show the beauty of the native's language, Cymraeg, through poetry, literature and the arts, which up until very recently was punishable by flogging children and in some cases ostracizing adults."

>>30889512

Because there's very little difference between Europeans overall since Europe had several large centralized nations. Same thing with east Asia really.

If you look at the size of these smaller populations you notice that there's a trend towards tribes right? Well, Europe and East Asia moved past that trend because of our agriculture which catapulted our population size into city and state builders. Furthermore our nations and states haven't been able to isolate themselves from our neighboors.

If you compare say France to China though you'll probably notice a few nuances of difference in cultural ticks and attitude.

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>>30889494
>Protocols regarding blood feuds often override court decisions and may vary from tribe to tribe Punishment for murder is harsher than punishment meted out to acts of disturbing the assahiya (tribal solidarity), and is usually capital punishment, but in some tribes a blood vengeance fee may be extracted instead. The general governing principle is that of Dum butlab dum ("blood begets blood"), which may be compared to the lex talionis. In many tribes, the first five levels of male cousins (Khamsa) are obligated to seek out and kill the murderer. If not found, another male member of the murderer's tribe would have to die in the retaliatory killing.

>Hospitality (diyafa) is the highest Bedouin virtue. Any stranger can approach a tent and be sure of three days board, lodging and protection after which he may leave in peace. A complex code of manners regulates this and all other relationships.

>The main ritual of Bedouin hospitality is the preparation of coffee. Coffee making is an art, and Beduin women (and men) are proud of their skill in it.

>Bedouin will offer their guests a rich meal, even if they have to slaughter their last sheep, or borrow from their neighbours to do it. Their honour is bound to their hospitality and lavish generosity.

>>30889512
Sorry, if it looks that to you. It wasn't intentional on my part. It's just we already know a lot about the cultures of Western Europe, that I thought peoples unfamiliar to us would make for a better thread.

>>30889512
European cultures are fairly well covered. In addition, since most of us are European we have a hard time seeing what we are part of. Because of that, it can be easy to romanticize other cultures.

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>>30889550
>The Bedouin people are bound by a strict code of honour. This is the central focus to their society and dictates all law and custom within the tribes. Honour is gained through heroic deeds. Due to the harshness of the desert, good grazing and watering grounds were strictly protected by those who were able to maintain their hold on the land. This usually meant that different tribes were raided because of this need for resources. However, the Bedouin’s strict code of honour made him bound to protect the women and children, and ensure that they had enough food and transport to survive.

>It is said that the Western Worlds ideals of chivalry and honour were bought back from the knights of the Crusades, who admired the Bedouin code of honour and adapted it to their own code of ethics.

>The Bedouin are true nomads, meaning that they move horizontally from one district to another in search of pasture (another form of nomadism, transhumance, is practiced in mountain areas by Kurds, Berbers and others who move from lower to higher altitudes in the different seasons).

>During their winter and spring migrations some Bedouin tribes travel 4000 km and more. The camel owning tribes travel the greatest distances, the sheep and goat herders are limited by the sheep who need water frequently. Camels can go seven to ten days without water, sheep four, cattle only two.

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>>30889619
>The Camel breeders are regarded as the noblest tribes. They occupy huge territories, travel great distances, and are organised in large tribes and tribal confederations in the Sahara, Syrian and Arabian deserts. Lower in rank are the sheep and goat breeders who stay mainly near the cultivated regions of Jordan, Israel, Syria and Iraq. Cattle breeding Bedouins are found mainly in South Arabia and in the Sudan. The Marsh Bedouin are a unique group adapted to life in the swamps of southern Iraq where they herd water buffaloes.

>The camel enables the Bedouin to move far away from water sources (it can drink 150 litres and then go for ten days without further watering). Bedouins can survive for months on its milk and if necessary slaughter it for meat. It also provides hair for tent cloth and clothes, fuel (dung), transportation (it can carry up to 180 kg) and power for drawing water or for ploughing.

>Camels were obviously the Bedouin's best investment and trading commodity. They are called "God's gift", and the Bedouin will cater to their need before taking care of their own. The best breeds of the one-humped Arabian camel were bred in Oman.

>>30889639
Just mentioning that I find this all extremely fascinating and I will be saving this thread onto my hard drive once all is finished.

Keep on keeping on, OP.

>>30889301
Solid ceramite balls.

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>>30889639
>Pashtunwalai literally means the way of the Pashtuns, it’s the rules and regulations and laws of the Pashtun tribes which protected the world’s biggest tribal society. These rules are responsible for the survival of the Pashtun tribes for over 2000 years.

>The obligation of Badal rests with the aggrieved party and it can be discharged only by action against the aggressor or his family. In most cases the aggressor is paid in the same coin. If no opportunity presents itself “he may defer his revenge for years, but it is disgraceful to neglect or abandon it entirely, and it is incumbent on his relations, and sometimes on his tribe, to assist him in his retaliation”. When a Pakhtun discovers that his dishonor is generally known, he prefers to die an honorable death rather than live a life of disgrace. He exercises the right of retribution with scant regard for hanging and transportation and only feels contented after avenging the insult. Badal resulted in blood feuds and vendetta in the past, but now due to the prevalent peaceful conditions in the tribal area and with the spread of education, the incidence of Badal are few and far between.

This is godly stuff, OP. Keep at it! I''m learning shit-tonnes!

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>>30890109
>Nanawatai: Derived from the verb meaning to go in, this refers to the protection given to a person against his or her enemies. People are protected at all costs; even those running from the law must be given refuge until the situation can be clarified.Nanawatai can also be used when the vanquished party in a dispute is prepared to go in to the house of the victors and ask for their forgiveness. (It is a peculiar form of "chivalrous" surrender, in which an enemy seeks "sanctuary" at his enemy's house). A notable example is that of Navy Petty Officer First Class Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of a US Navy SEAL team ambushed by Taliban fighters. Wounded, he evaded the enemy and was aided by members of the Sabray tribe who took him to their village. The tribal chief protected him, fending off attacking tribes until word was sent to nearby US forces.

>An experienced British administrator who served as a Political Officer on the Frontier for a fairly long time describes it “an extension of the idea of Melmastia, (Hospitality) in an extreme form, stepped up to the highest degree”. But the grant of asylum or sanctuary is only one aspect of Nanawatey while its exact definition and true spirit seems to have been ignored. As a matter of fact, it is a means to end longstanding disputes and blood feuds and transform enmity into friendship.

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>>30890183
>“In common with all Afghans”, writes Claud Field, “the Afridi exercise a rough hospitality and offer an asylum to any fugitive endeavoring to escape from an avenger, or from the pursuit of justice and they would undergo any punishment or suffer any injuries rather than deliver up their guest”. The denial of protection, says Sir Olaf Caroe, “is impossible for one who would observe Pakhtu, it cannot be refused even to an enemy who makes an approach according to Nanawatey.”

>Melmastia Pakhtun have been described as one of the most hospitable peoples of the world. They consider Melmastiya or generous hospitality as one of the finest virtues and greet their guest warmly with a broad smile on their faces. A Pakhtun feels delighted to receive a guest regardless of his past relations or acquaintance and prepares a delicious meal for him. “Each house,” says Mirza Agha Abbas of Shiraz, “subscribes a vessel of water for the mosque and for strangers”. Dilating on the subject Mr. L. White King says that “Pathans regard dispensing of hospitality as a sacred duty, and supply their guests with food according to their means”.

>To their minds, says another English writer, “hospitality is the finest of virtues. Any person who can make his way into their dwellings will not only be safe, but will be kindly received.”

Fuck, all these cultures suck.

>>30890280
I'm loving them, continue pls.

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>>30890245


>Romanticised by writers such as Alexander Pushkin and suppressed by the Soviets, the Cossacks – a nomadic military people descended from the Tatars – have resumed their historic role of military service in Krasnodar, the prosperous southern region next to Russia’s restive Caucasus. The revival coincides with a surge of Russian nationalism and xenophobia as migration rises from nearby Muslim republics.

>Locals fear the new arrivals will steal their jobs and there have been violent clashes with immigrants. “The Kuban Cossacks have appeared because the authorities don’t have the strength to keep order and in particular to combat Caucasian migration,” says Alexei Malashenko, an expert on the Caucasus at the Carnegie Moscow Centre, a think-tank. “There are two options: either they [Cossacks] can stabilise the situation, or they will shake it up.”

>>30890350
Indeed. This is really cool.

>>30888659
dude on the left looks like some sort of buskman Joker.

>>30890450
meant dude on the right

>>30890280
What's your idea of a culture that doesn't suck?

>>30890481
I'll wager a guess and say it's whatever he's from..

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>>30890422
>Gurkhas are closely associated with the Khukuri, a forward-curving Nepalese knife and have a well known reputation for their fearless military prowess. The former Indian Army Chief of Staff Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, once stated that "If a man says he is not afraid of dying, he is either lying or is a Gurkha."

Anons from Singapore and India told me that the Gurkhas are used as special forces in their police force and army respectively, meant to be deployed when the shits get too hot for the regular troops.

>>30890481
A totally homogenous culture that doesn't include anything alien to his own.

Which mean he's probably American since they have no culture of their own.

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>>30889364
I bet she's great at giving head

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>>30890524

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>>30890524

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>>30890514
>Acting L/Cpl [Tuljung] Gurung, who serves with the Royal Gurkha Rifles, was on duty at Patrol Base Sparta, in Nahr-e Seraj, at 4am on March 22 when he spotted two Afghans running towards his sangar, or watchtower.

>When he challenged them to stop, the insurgents opened fire with an AK47 assault rifle.

>One of the rounds struck him on the helmet, knocking him to the ground. Groggily getting to his feet, he saw a grenade bounce into the tower.

>Fearing it would explode, the married Gurkha picked it up and hurled it away a split-second before it detonated, the force of the blast throwing him to the floor.

>But as the dust and debris settled, Acting L/Cpl Gurung came face-to-face with one of the Taliban who was climbing into the 3 metre high sangar.

>Lacking room to aim his rifle, the soldier drew his 18inch kukri and tenaciously took on the insurgent in hand-to-hand combat.

>During the fight, the pair plunged to the ground outside the base. In a life-or-death struggle, Acting L/Cpl Gurung continued to lash out with the blade.

>‘I just thought, “I don’t want to die. If I am alive I can save my colleagues”.

>>30888770
Is that where we get taboo from? Interesting if so.

>>30890518
Common misconception.

America does have a culture, the problem is it's mostly political.

It has more in common with patrician Rome where opponents to prevailing political ideologies are attacked on all fronts. The seasons change, the ideologies do, and there's another whipping boy to focus on.

When you get down to it American culture is one that idolizes dominance. It's not enough to prove your opponent wrong, you must humiliate him in the process. It isn't enough to make a living, you must make the very best living possible.

It's fascinating and terrifying at once.

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>>30890538
>“They started snatching jewelry, cell phones, cash, laptops and other belongings from the passengers,” Shrestha recalled. The soldier had somehow remained a silent spectator amidst the melee, but not for long. He had had enough when the robbers stripped an 18-year-old girl sitting next to him and tried to rape her right in front of her parents. He then took out his khukuri and took on the robbers.

>“The girl cried for help, saying ´You are a soldier, please save a sister´,” Shrestha recalled. “I prevented her from being raped, thinking of her as my own sister,” he added.

> Corporal Shrestha leapt to his feet, drawing his khukri, he flew across the train car, grabbing the would-be rapist from behind in a sleeper hold, pulled him up off the girl, and used him as a human shield while he lunged out and slashed one of the sword-swinging thugs. One of the other bandits tried to cut the girl, slashing his knife wildly at her neck, but the girl only took a minor wound before Shrestha dropped him with a strike. With the terrorists in the immediate vicinity disposed of, he sliced the throat of his human shield and went looking for more.

>He took on the entire train – 40 men – at once, killing three and wounding eight more, even after he took a nasty sword blow that severed every major artery and vein in his left hand, he continued with his attack.

>At the next station, police and emergency personnel were there to rush Shrestha to the hospital, where he spent two months

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>>30890596
>On 12/13 May 1945 at Taungdaw, Burma [now Myanmar], Rifleman Lachhiman Gurung was manning the most forward post of his platoon which bore the brunt of an attack by at least 200 of the Japanese enemy. Twice he hurled back grenades which had fallen on his trench, but the third exploded in his right hand, blowing off his fingers, shattering his arm and severely wounding him in the face, body and right leg. His two comrades were also badly wounded but the rifleman, now alone and disregarding his wounds, loaded and fired his rifle with his left hand for four hours, calmly waiting for each attack which he met with fire at point blank range. Afterwards, when the casualties were counted, it is reported that there were 31 dead Japanese around his position which he had killed, with only one arm.[

>>30890518
>hatred for any culture not theirs
>implyimg it isn't 1984land or straya

>>30888640
Thanks for the thread OP, good stuff.

Brahmanism ilyique- captcha is getting in on the fun also

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>>30890619
> Women do not have their own age-set but are recognized by that of their husbands. Ceremonies are an expression of Maasai culture and self-determination. Every ceremony is a new life. They are rites of passage, and every Maasai child is eager to go through these vital stages of life. Following is where a boy's life begin in the Maasai society.


>The first boy's initiation is Enkipaata (pre-circumcision ceremony), and is organized by fathers of the new age set. Enkipaata can only happen, when the senior warriors are settled.

>A collection of 30-40 houses are built for the initiating boys. The houses are located in one large kraal chosen by the Oloiboni (prophet). This is where all boys across the region will be united and initiated. Before the ceremony, the Olopolosi olkiteng, chief of the boys, must be chosen.

>Olopolosi olkiteng is a position not desired by anyone because it is considered unfortunate. The new chief is to shoulder all of his age group's sins. The day before the ceremony, boys must sleep outside in the forest. When early dawn approaches, they run to the homestead and enter with an attitude of a raider. During the ceremony, boys dress in loose clothing and dance non-stop throughout the day. This ceremony is the transition into a new age set. After enkipaata ceremony, boys are ready for the most important initiation known as Emuratare (circumcision).

>>30890677
Woah, woah, woah. We English love other cultures! It allows us to expand our cuisine without having to use French stuff!

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>>30890723
>>30890723
>The healing process will take 3-4 months, and boys must remain in black cloths for a period of 4-8 months. After they are healed, they have become a new person and receive the status of a new warrior.

>After circumcision, the next step is to form the Emanyatta (warrior's camp).

>Emanyatta contains twenty to forty houses randomly selected by warriors. The selection of this camp is sometimes a bit of a challenge. Not every elder would like his wife to be in an emanyatta, because it is a free visit zone for everyone. Weapons such as spears, clubs and shields are carried by warriors during this time because, occasionally, the battle can get very serious.

>Warriors will choose certain mothers to relocate at the emanyatta for the duration of its existence. Each Maasai section has its own age-set.

>A special pole, planted in the middle of the camp, is used as a flagpole. The white and blue colored cloth, the Maasai nation's flag, is tied to the pole before planting, and remains there as long as the Morrans (warriors) are still in the camp.

> The purpose of the camp is to keep men of the same age set together and fulfill their role as a military force. This is where the warriors learn about brotherhood, the art of oratory skills and animal husbandry. They will spend up to ten years in the emanyatta before the senior's warrior initiation.

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>>30890766
>During the festival, warriors are prohibited to carry weapons such as sticks, spears, knifes, etc. Also, during this event, an animal horn is set on fire and warriors are forced to take a piece out before it is completely burned. No one wants to take the piece out, because whoever takes the horn out of the fire will suffer misfortunate throughout his entire life. However, if warriors refuse to take the horn out from the fire, the entire age-set will be cursed. It is better for one person to be unfortunate than many.

>A specially chosen bull is slaughtered for the ceremony. A wife must prove to her husband that she hasn't engaged in an illegal sexual affair with a man of the younger age set. Whether this has occurred or not will be revealed by participating in the bull's skin ritual. Men wrestle with themselves to get near the bull's skin to see if their wives have been unfaithful to the age-set. It is right for a wife to have affairs with men of the same age set but not outside the age set. If a woman is found guilty of violating such a commitement, she will be disrespected by her husband and by her entire age set.

>For a woman to regain respect from her husband, she must go back to her father or relativ's home to obtain a female cow. No man would refuse such an apology; however, the man might not keep the cow. he would then give the cow to his friend as a gift.

And this, brings me to the end of my notes.

As a dude who seriously loves guns, I wish we still used swords and shit. All these turban-wearing dudes with scimitars is so radical.

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>>30890989

>>30890818
We must introduce MILF porn to these people.

>>30889550
>>30889619
>>30889639
>>30890109
>>30890183
>>30890245
>>30890514
>>30890538
>>30890596
>>30890619

More stuff like this, because bone through nose africans are boring.

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>>30891153
OP here, I've kinda run out on shit to post. When I started the thread, I was hoping more people would contributing as well. Wasn't really prepared to do an info dump.

I've got some more stuff on the Tuareg people and the Bedouin, if you wanna read more about them.

>>30891213

Great.

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>>30891265
>The Bedouin are the Arabic speaking nomads of the Middle East who have proudly maintained their pastoral way of life over thousands of years. From the Arabian Peninsula, their original home, they spread out into other lands and now live in the desert regions of all countries between the Arabian Gulf and the Atlantic.

>There are other nomads in the Middle East with a similar lifestyle who are not Bedouin (not ethnic Arabs). These are the Berber nomads of North Africa, Kurdish and other Iranian and Turkic tribes, and some African tribes in the Sudan.

>Throughout their long history, desert Bedouin have survived on their herds, supplying the surplus meat and dairy products to the urban population. They also controlled the desert trade routes, escorted caravans, and provided them with guides and drivers.

>A century ago, nomadic Bedouin still made up a large percentage of the total Arab population. Their numbers have sharply declined since the introduction of new Ottoman land laws in the mid-eighteenth century which abolished the communal ownership of land that was a basic ingredient of their nomadic lifestyle. The decline continued under twentieth century central governments who apply many pressures on them to settle so as better to control them. The oil boom and the rapid industrialisation in the area have further accelerated this trend.

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>>30891330
> Bedouin have a love of freedom and not being tied down. Explaining the appeal of the nomadic life, one Bedouin nomad told National Geographic: “You are free. You have a relationship only with your animals. The only relationship more important is with Allah.” Calmness and patience are valued traits in the desert. Bedouin submission to fate has been a cornerstone of the Muslim faith. The Bedouin term "green hearted" describes the act of being lighthearted and unconcerned about mundane matters and preferring adventure and danger.

> National Geographic photographer Reza said, “I have been shooting pictures for 35 years and have traveled in 107 different countries, but nowhere have I enjoyed greater warmth that I experience among the Bedouin. Exhausted after a long day driving...you’d approach a tent, and suddenly someone would appear with a coffee and a beautiful carpet to sit on—yet they’d never ask you who you were or where you’re from. I sometimes wonder if the rest of us have forgotten such values.”

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>>30891356
> Bedouins are expected boil their last rice and kill their last sheep for feed a stranger. Whenever an animal is slaughtered for a guest it is ritually sacrificed in accordance with Islamic law. It is customary in some Bedouin tribes for a host to smear blood from a slaughtered animal onto of the mounth of his guest in a show of hospitality.

>Hospitality is regarded as an honor and a scared duty. Visitors who happen by are usually invited to sit and share a cup of thick, gritty coffee. Guest are ritually absorbed into the household by the host. If a conflict occurs the host is expected to defend the guest as if he were a member of his family. One Bedouin told National Geographic, "Even if my enemy appears at this tent, I am bound to feast him and protect him with my life."

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>>30891378
> Some Bedouins families are quite large. "We have many children," a Bedouin told journalist Harvey Ardent, "I myself have 17 by my two wives. What else can you do in the desert?"

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>>30891406
>As is true with all Arabs, Bedouins live in patrilineal societies. Most are members of large patrilineal descent groups, which are linked by agnation to larger lineage groups, tribes and even confederations of tribes. “Bedouins frequently name more than five generations of patrilineal ancestors and conceptualize relations among descent groups in terms of a segmentary genealogical model, with each group nested in a larger patrilineal group. Within this structure is a framework for forging marriage alliances, and settling disputes and administering justice.

> Bedouins have nasty blood feuds that sometimes end in murder. Describing a revenge killing in southern Arabia in 1946, Wilfred Thesiger wrote: "Bin Mautlauq spoke of the raid in which young Sahail was killed. He and fourteen companions had surprised a small herd of Saar camels. The herdsmen had fired two shots at them before escaping, on the fastest of his camels, and one of these shots hit Sihail in the chest. Bakhit held his dying son in his arms as they rode across the plain with the seven captured camels. It was late in the morning when Sahail was wounded, and he lived till nearly sunset, begging for water which they had no t got." "

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>>30891432
> "They rode all night to a small Saar encampment under a tree in a shallow valley. A woman was churning butter in a skin, and a boy and girl were milking the goats. Some small children sat under a tree. The boy saw them first and tried to escape but they corned him against a low cliff. He was about fourteen years old, a little younger than Sahail, and unarmed. When they surrounded him he put his thumbs in his mouth as a sign of surrender, and asked for mercy. No one answered him."

>Bakhit slipped own off his camel, drew his dagger, and drove it into the boy's ribs. The boy collapsed at his feet, moaning, 'Oh, my father! Oh, my father!' and Bakhit stood over him till he died. He then climbed back into his saddle, his grief a little soothed by the murder...The small, long-haired figure, in white loincloth, crumpled on the ground, the spreading pool of blood, the avid clustering flies, the frantic wailing of the dark-clad women, the terrified children, the shrill incessant screaming of a small baby."

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>>30891447
>Explaining the appeal of the nomadic life, one Bedouin nomad told National Geographic: “You are free. You have a relationship only with your animals. The only relationship more important is with Allah.” Otherwise it is a tough life. T.E. Lawrence once wrote that nomadism was “the most deeply biting of all social disciplines...a life too hard for all but the strongest and most determined.”

>Bedouins often travel at night because it easier navigate under the stars People looking for Bedouins sometimes have to spend several weeks to locate them wandering in the desert. "For us the desert is neither fearsome nor mysterious," a Bedouin desert policeman told Abercrombie. "It is home. We know the barren hills, each bitter stretch between wells. We understand its signs and its people.

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>>30891467
> With water in short supply, Bedouins do't take many baths. Before prayers they often wash with sand rather than scarce water. Bedouins wash their hair with powdered leaves of the sidr tree, a thorny fruit tree also know as Christ's thorn because it believed to have been used to make Christ's crown of thorns. The leaves are dried and pounded and mixed with water to make a lather.

>>30889512

You should post some interesting stuff about white people, then.

>>30889512
I fucking hate people like you.

>>30892418
But that's what I tried to do.

>>30892558
Course you do mate.

>>30890593
America is a capitalist society that values individual accomplishment over collective accomplishment. It's kind of what we're raised on. I still can't tell if that's a good or a bad thing.

>>30892786
Individual accomplishment revels in stepping over others to reach your goals.

>>30892786
Like with most things, too much can be harmful. There are other countries, mainly Asian, in which collective accomplishment is valued over individual accomplishment to a degree about as extreme as the inverse is in the US.

A happy medium is always better, in my opinion.

>>30892811
No, not really. It can, but it's not required.

Individual accomplishment is largely achieved by working with others. The characterization of the majority of US citizens as heartless is unfair. There are always a few who would sell their own grandmother, sure. But it's not the rule.

>>30892845
>The characterization of the majority of US citizens as heartless is unfair
American corporations and foreign policy are to blame for that.

>>30892868
And if US citizens had any meaningful control over those two things, your sentiment would be appropriate. Since that isn't the case I'd ask you be a bit more accommodating.

>>30889512
I think the point was that white people cultures get a lot of attention already in most tabletop games, and these are ideas for cultural behaviors from cultures that are less commonly known about.

>>30892891
He's the kind of person who's too obsessed with his own sense of identity to show appreciation for others'.

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>>30890524

>>30889304
>>30889322
>tfw redhead
>tfw live in England
>tfw will never meet these people
>tfw will never live where they live
>tfw forever outsider

>>30892884
Well they do, or at least they did. Now they're so far gone they've hoisted themselves on their own petard and deserve whatever they get.

>>30892891
Of course, but not all white culture is the culture you see in the movies or tabletop.

All I was trying to say is that there's underrepresented cultural things when it comes to Europe. Sure, Knights and Vikings are out there but camels and lip-plates aren't the only things that can be interesting. Take Ancient Greece, where buggering boys was encouraged but men wasn't. Or Egypt, where hair was seen as dirty so everyone shaved and wore wigs.

>>30892946
It's not that I don't care for other cultures, I just want to see things from Europe that are interesting as well.

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Most enjoyable thread on /tg all week.

>>30893308
>Well they do, or at least they did.

The average Joe in the US is not responsible for rising debt, foreign wars, or corporate corruption. We elect representatives who, in theory, are instruments of our desires.

That the politics in the US government are becoming increasingly extreme and the efficacy of public opinion is lessening with each passing year has sweet FA to do with myself or my countrymen.

>>30894021
You make it sound like you all suddenly woke up one morning as a nation of complacent sheep with your politicians riding roughshod over you. You are absolutely responsible because you've allowed it to happen in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

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>>30889356

>>30889550
>Bedouin will offer their guests a rich meal, even if they have to slaughter their last sheep, or borrow from their neighbours to do it. Their honour is bound to their hospitality and lavish generosity.
Query: would it be considered rude on the part of a guest to explicitly tell your host that if it would put them in hardship, they don't have to offer a meal?

>>30890570
Nope. Tabu is the Tongan word for "set apart or forbidden". 5 seconds on Google.

>>30894042
so fahnny le jew man meme

>>30889259
hehe, cute

>>30888770
Isn't it true that there's some sort of bird there that is supposed to be very unlucky to see or go near, I remember when my uncle lived out there he said that when he was out in the country there, he saw a load of big maori men charging through the bush from some small brightly feathered bird, have you heard anything about this?

>>30894090
Yes, tell me all about the public elections for Enron. Or the invasion of Iraq. Or Syria. Or TARPA. Or the ACA. Or the NSA. Tell me all about how everyone in the country got together and made those things happen because we love them and wanted them.

There's an argument for political representation and political literacy. I'm not denying that.

>Brazil
>The Satere-Mawe people use intentional bullet ant stings as part of their initiation rites to become a warrior. The ants are first rendered unconscious by submerging them in a natural sedative and then hundreds of them are woven into a glove made out of leaves (which resembles a large oven mitt), stinger facing inward. When the ants regain consciousness, a boy slips the glove onto his hand. The goal of this initiation rite is to keep the glove on for a full ten minutes. When finished, the boy's hand and part of his arm are temporarily paralyzed due to the ant venom, and he may shake uncontrollably for days. The only "protection" provided is a coating of charcoal on the hands, supposedly to confuse the ants and inhibit their stinging. To fully complete the initiation, however, the boys must go through the ordeal a total of 20 times over the course of several months or even years.

The ordeal lasts for hours and the subject is compelled to dance with the ant-filled stinging mitts despite the pain.

>>30889544
>there's very little difference between Europeans
You must be American.

>>30894487
yeah.
I mean, you go one county own on the map from where I live and you find a place where it is socially acceptable to have a moustache and wear leather vests.
Go further south and the people dont even greet their friends by calling them horsecocks.
Studying abroad was a bit of a minor culture shock for me on grounds of humor alone.

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This site is really awesome and has great picture of brown, beige, white and yellow people of all kinds.

>>30895096
duh, forgot the link
http://www.beforethey.com/

>>30888705
>>30888691
That veil looks cool as hell.

>>30889512
Christianity has annihilated the cultural uniqueness of western europeans,

>>30896646
Pretty much this.
Jesus ruins everything cool.

>>30894487

No. But honestly speaking there's just minimal differences. You can do a roughly categorize it in southern Europeans, Scandis, eastern Europeans and Western Europeans, but because of the dominance of Christianity and the prolific cultural exchange the differences are honestly minimal in proportion to the examples in this thread.

For instance southern Europeans tend to be more intimate and animated and they are Catholics, while Scandinavians are more reserved and protestants.

>>30896785
Naw. Catholicism ruins everybody's fun.

You should look up some of the kookier heresy, like Catharism. If the Church hadn't successfully murderated them, we'd have all sorts of culturally unique christian groups.

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>One of the earliest underground killing cults to be documented became known as the Human Leopard Society of Sierra Leone, on the west coast of Africa. The cult focused on the creation of medicines made out of human entrails. As long ago as 1607, a visitor to the region wrote of fierce, man-eating tribes who lived in the interior of the country and dressed as leopards.
>In 1807, coastal Sierra Leone became a British colony, but the leopard societies were so secretive that the authorities didn’t get wind of them until 1891. A bill was quickly drafted outlawing the society. It stated: “Many murders have been committed by men so dressed to resemble leopards and armed with a three-pronged knife commonly known as a leopard knife.”
>The bill made it a crime to possess a leopard skin shaped to resemble a leopard, a three-pronged knife and an unusual native medicine known as “Borfima”. The police were given powers to search for such items without a warrant. The chiefs of the inland tribes were subject to harsh penalties if they failed to report Leopard Society activities. But the human leopards were not intimidated by the might of Britain. In fact it turned out they’d got allies: in 1902 a Human Alligator Society was uncovered, which worked in parallel with the leopards. An extra prohibition was duly added to the bill, outlawing the wearing of alligator skins shaped to resemble the reptiles.

I have information on secret societies and cults if anyone is interested

For example

>In the middle of the thirteenth century, when outlaw bands and mercenaries roamed the lawless territory between the Rhine and the Weser rivers in Westphalia, Germany, the Chivalrous Order of the Holy Vehm (or Fehm), a secret vigilante society, was formed by free men and commoners to protect themselves from the marauders. In the beginning, the resistance group had the approval of both the church and the Holy Roman emperor, but as time passed the Holy Vehm became a law unto itself, passing judgment on all those whom they decided should receive a death sentence.

>>30897645
Yes! I need more cult stuff for those Pulply games and CoC.

The Fehm sound allot like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Committee_of_Vigilance

>>30897718
Because the society began with only a handful of members and violent retaliation could be expected from any gang of outlaws who might learn the identities of those commoners who dared to oppose them, an oath of secrecy was imposed upon all those with the courage to join the ranks of the Vehm. During the initiation ceremonies, candidates vowed to kill themselves and even their spouses and children, rather than permit any society secrets to be betrayed. Once the oath had been made, one of the Vehm's Stuhlherren or judges, would move his sword across the initiates' throats, drawing a few drops of blood to serve as a silent reminder of the fate that awaited all traitors to the society. After this ritual had been observed, the initiates kissed the cross that was formed by the space between the sword's blade and hilt. Below the Stuhlherren in rank were the deputy judges, the Freischoffen, and the executioners, the Frohnboten. The deputy judges and the executioners carried out the various tasks of inquisitors, jury, and hangman.
Within a few decades of its formation, the Vehm had more than 200,000 free men and commoners in its ranks—each man sworn to uphold the Ten Commandments and to eliminate all heresies, heretics, perjurers, traitors, and servants of Satan. Once anyone was suspected of violating one or more of the Lord's commandments or laws, he or she was brought before one of the Holy Vehm's courts and was unlikely to escape the death sentence to be hanged.

>>30897950
>Hi, I haven't read any part of this thread at all but I want to complain.
ftfy

>>30897821
It has been said that no one knows the real meaning of "Mau-Mau" other than a Kikuyu (also Gikuyu) tribesperson and that is because its name, like its origins, is shrouded in ancient African tribal mysteries and covered in blood. On the other hand, some authorities claim that the name was invented by European settlers and applied to the native insurrectionists in Kenya. At any rate, the name was first heard among the white population of Africa in 1948 when police officials in the British colony of Kenya began to receive rumors of strange ceremonies being held late at night in the jungle. These midnight assemblies were said to be bestial rituals that mocked Christian rites and included the eating of human flesh and the drinking of blood. Then came the reports of native people being dragged from their beds at night, being beaten or maimed, and forced to swear oaths of initiation to a secret society. In each case, their assailants were said to be members of a secret society called the Mau-Mau.

>>30898162
The Mau-Mau weapon of choice was the panga, the broad-bladed machete commonly used to hack a path through thick jungle vegetation. The society appeared to favor bloody and brutal attacks as a means of striking fear into the hearts and minds of all who might oppose them, but their choice of enemies seemed often difficult to comprehend. The first man to die at the hand of the Mau-Mau was a Kikuyu chief who spoke out against the secret society that had chosen to resort to savagery and barbarism to achieve its political objectives. In October 1952, a lone white settler was killed and disemboweled. An elderly farmer was found dead in November; in January 1953, two men who worked a farm as partners were discovered murdered by the Mau-Mau. A vicious attack on January 24, 1953, claimed the Rucks, a family of English heritage, who had always been regarded as dealing with their black employees in a fair-minded and charitable manner, even to the extent of supporting a clinic at their own expense. The bodies of the husband, wife, and their six-yearold son were found so hacked and ripped as to be nearly unrecognizable as human beings.

Later it was learned that native men and women who had been in the Rucks' employ for many years had been foremost in the slaughter of the English family. What seemed particularly insidious to the white population was discovering to their horror that employees who had been loyal to them for decades were suddenly rising up and butchering them without warning. When the Mau-Mau demanded that blood be shed, long-standing associations and friendships between black and white were no longer considered something of value.

>>30893263
I know that feeling, my rufous brother, I know that feeling.

>>30894279
But there is obviously a shared etymology there between the polynesian languages.

>>30898180
The citizens of Paris awoke one morning in 1622 to find that their city had been ornamented with posters which the Brethren of the Rosy Cross (Rosicrucians) had scattered to announce that their secret order was now moving among the Parisians to save them from the error of death. In the seventeenth century, the Rosicrucians were rumored to have accomplished the transmutation of metals, the means of prolonging life, the knowledge to see and to hear what was occurring in distant places, and the ability to detect secret and hidden objects.

Such announcements were met with great excitement. It was a time of reformation and enlightenment, and all of Europe was looking forward to the new world that the alchemists and magicians promised was about to emerge from the ashes of the old. And leading such a movement of a new appreciation of the arts and sciences and humankind's true place in the universe was the Illumined Father and Brother Christian Rosencreutz (1378–1484), a brilliant magus, who at the age of 16 had already gained secret wisdom teachings from the sages of Arabia and the Holy Land.

>>30898590
When Rosencreutz returned to Germany circa 1450, he became a recluse, for he could see that Europe was not yet ready for the complete reformation which he so yearned to present to it. For one thing, he claimed to have acquired the fabled philosopher's stone, which enabled him to produce all the gold and precious gems necessary to allow him to build a house where he could live peacefully and well. To share the power of the legendary stone of transmutation with the unwise, the worldly, and the greedy would be disastrous. Quietly, Rosencreutz accepted only a handful of carefully evaluated students to whom he imparted the knowledge that he had acquired in ancient Egypt and the connection that he had made with the mystery schools and the esoteric teachings of great masters. He was particularly enthusiastic about telling his students about Pharaoh Amenhotep and the monotheistic view of one God. At first there were only three disciples in attendance; then later, eight brothers, including Rosencreutz himself, swore to uphold the following precepts:

They would not profess any creed but the goal of healing the sick without reward; They would affect no particular style of clothing;
They would meet once each year in the House of the Sainted Spirit; Each brother would carefully choose his own successor;
The letters "R.C." would serve as their only seal and character;
The Brotherhood would remain secret for 100 years.
Rosencreutz died in 1484 at the age of 106. Although Rosen-creutz had been buried in secret, one of the brothers happened by chance to discover his burial chamber and read the promise inscribed above the entrance that Rosencreutz would return in 126 years. The discovery of the illumined father's prediction inspired the brothers to work in earnest to spread the teachings of Christian Rosencreutz throughout the world.

>>30898664
No organized cult of killers has ever murdered as many people as the Thuggee. In the 1830s this Indian secret society strangled upward of 30,000 native people and travelers as a sacrifice to their goddess Kali, the "Dark Mother," the Hindu Triple Goddess of creation, preservation, and destruction. The name Thuggee comes from the Sanskrit sthaga, "deceiver."


Although the Thuggee probably originated sometime in the sixteenth century, they were not uncovered by British authorities until about 1812. Great Britain was beginning to expand its territories in India, and the British administrators were becoming increasingly alarmed by reports of bands of stranglers that were roving the countryside murdering travelers. At first there appeared to be no connection between the bizarre killings, but then the bodies of 50 victims were found hidden in a series of wells in the Ganges area. Such large-scale mass murder could not have been kept secret for so long unless special pains had been taken to dispose of the victims' corpses. Examination of the bodies revealed that the murderers had broken all joints of their victims' limbs to speed up the process of decomposition and to prevent the swelling of the graves that would attract scavenging jackals and other wild animals. Such evidence convinced the authorities that they were dealing with one secret society, the Thuggee.

The murderous craft of the Thuggee was hereditary. Its practitioners were trained from earliest childhood to murder by the quick, quiet method of a strong cloth noose tightened about the neck of their victims. This weapon, the "Rumal," was worn knotted about the waist of each member of the Thuggee.

>>30898697
The Thuggee gloried in silent and efficient acts of murder above any other earthly accomplishment, and they traveled often in the guise of traders, pilgrims, and even as soldiers marching to or from service. On occasion, the more flamboyant would pretend to be a rajah with a large retinue of followers. Each band of Thuggee had a small unit of scouts and inveiglers who would loiter about hotels and market places gaining information regarding travelers and the weight of their coin purses. The inveiglers posed as travelers headed for the same destination as their intended victims. They would worm themselves into the confidences of their prey, pleading the old adage of safety in numbers.

The mass slaughters of large groups of merchants and travelers were usually committed when all were encamped. Working in groups of three, one Thuggee would loop the Rumal around the victim's neck, another would press his head forward, and the third would grab his legs and throw him to the ground. In the rare instance when an intended victim escaped the nooses in the death area, he would run into scouts posted at the edge of the jungle. One hundred percent mortality of their victims was the goal of the Thuggee.

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>>30895117
>http://www.beforethey.com/

Just browsed through it now. Absolutely incredible. A wide array of ethnic cultures all photographed stunningly.

And then there's this guy.

>>30898887

*tips fedora*

>>30898887
Any anthropologist will tell you that website is so hilarious outdated and, dare I say, racist, that it's actually laughable. The concept of a doomed race is about a hundred years out of date.

>>30897950
>any mention of races other than white people in a positive light is white guilt
Yeah okay /pol/.

I want to learn about pre-Christian Scandinavia.
What did they believe in?
What was their Democracy thing I keep hearing about?

>>30893788
>Take Ancient Greece, where buggering boys was encouraged but men wasn't. Or Egypt, where hair was seen as dirty so everyone shaved and wore wigs.
This is thread seems to going for contemporary cultures rather than those of the past.

It doesn't matter what the OP posts, if you want something different, make your own damn contribution.

>>30898697
>>30898841
Motherfucking jesus.

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>>30890524

>>30894461

We made the choice when we voted Ronnie Reagan in, pretty much. Yes, this choice probably was made before you were born. Deal with it.

>>30904247
But your presidents have been utter shit since Woodrow Wilson

>>30901154

>I want to learn about pre-Christian Scandinavia.

We all do anon, unfortunately that ship sailed, all we have now is potentially tainted post-Christian accounts.

>>30904325
>implying Woodrow Wilson wasn't shit

>>30904325

No argument there, but Reagan is the one who turned over the country to neoliberalism.

>>30891406
>What else can you do in the desert?
I like these people.

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What about this, /tg/?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etoro_people

>The Etoro, or Edolo, are a tribe and ethnic group of the Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. Their territory comprises the southern slopes of Mt. Sisa, along the southern edge of the central mountain range of New Guinea, near the Papuan Plateau.

>They are well known among anthropologists because of ritual homosexual acts practised between the young boys and men of the tribe.

>The Etoro believe that young boys must ingest the semen of their elders daily from the age of 12 until they turn 17 to achieve adult male status and to properly mature and grow strong.

>The Etoro believe that they each contain a certain amount of life force, the highest concentrations of which are contained in semen. This life force passes to others through sexual relations.

Would you include this in your games?

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>>30898887

Let me explain the Khamba (Khampa). A group of native warriors who predate the Lamas. The Khamba, as a people, as known for their toughness and skill at arms. They volunteered, and by they I mean the every man, woman, and child, to guard the lamas' escape from Lhasa during the Chinese invasion. Yeah, imagine an entire culture protecting a foreign spiritualist out of honor, duty, and mutual respect.

Their beliefs are far more animistic than the regular Tibetans, but they also began to enjoy some of the touches of Zen that came through during the period of the lama.

The CIA, seeking to secure Tibet, setup ST Circus. They snuck a couple dozen Khamba out of Tibet through mountain passes, though the Khamba outran the trained Rangers sent in after them.

The US brought them to a training ground in Colorado wherein they mastered all sorts of weaponry. You see, the Khamba had used all sorts of weaponry, from their ancient arms all the way up to the Chinese automatics they stripped off of invading forces. Most gained with their bare hands after surrendering weapons to those same Chinese troops.

They were trained in demolition, artillery handling, small arms. Their native style was lauded by the Special Forces guys who they trained with, and traditional Khamba wrestling was seen as too brutal to practice while they remained. A fight over ice cream between two warriors led to both breaking limbs, a broken hand, and a lot of missing teeth from the SF officer who stepped in.

The warriors just laughed it off and got bound up.

The only thing they refused to learn was swimming due to fear of natural hot springs. Due to the unique geography of their range thawing water was dangerous, and often polluted or too hot to safely swim, they were superstitious.

They also loved cinema. Khamba warriors loved the Searchers. Upon 'graduation' they were given cowboy hats. These hats are now ancestral heirlooms. Thus the cowboy hat.

Random anecdote about Gurkhas:

It was normal for the British to trawl the mountain tribes for the best young men and recruit them into the British army, which was seen as an honorable service. One man called up in 1943 remembered going through boot camp, and then being brought before a British officer, who explained via translator that they were going to be part of the assault into Italy. One Gurkha asked what Italy had done to deserve this, and the officer said that they were part of the Axis and were a stepping stone toward beating the Germans. The men asked why the officer was so keen on attacking this axis, when it would clearly start another Great War. The recruiters in Nepal had conveniently forgotten to tell volunteers that WW2 had broken out.

>>30891406
This reminds me of an article I read about poverty and investing. The author asked a man in the Sahara why he had bought a gigantic TV instead of saving up to send his children to college. The response was basically that "I have spent 25 fucking years watching sand dunes move, I need a break from this shit."

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>Woodcarving (particularly mask-making) is the highest form of art for many Northwest Coast peoples, and only the upper classes are permitted to learn it.

>>30904665
Tell us more about these based people.

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>>30905046
Here’s what Northwest masks look like, for a better idea. These things are hard as fuck to make. A lot of them include movable parts, like opening mouths or swishing fins. It was common to make masks that had other masks inside, so a dancer would go through the layers as his character transformed.

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>>30905182

They're a calm, collected warrior people who are passionate. They have a relatively high level of literacy and love of learning due to their close ties with the lamaist state. You see, Kham is a border region, so they kept passing between the hands of the Han and Tibetan lamas.

But their exposure to Western culture has been a major thing. Khamba love cowboys, and since they have acquiesced to Chinese rule in the TAR for now they practice their native horsemanship with a lot of Western additions.

You should check out the Litang Horse Festival. It is a fascinating mixture of Khamba, Tibetan, Chinese, and Western styles and flair. Western horsemanship, races, traditional wrestling, mounted shooting demonstrations... Shit's pretty cool.

Did I mention the fact that these horse festivals serve the place of traditional wars? The animals dress in war finery as the riders, shooters, etc. show the greatest of each individual warrior clan, and establish the hierarchy of social and political relationships until the next festival season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOVrDdC38xY shows the horse racing.

>>30905513
>Khamba love cowboys
Don't we all?

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>>30904767
>>30904767
>At this time, Thapa's native Kingdom of Gorkha was in the process of a massive campaign of expansion, a period that began when they invaded their neighbors in the Kathmandu Valley, conquered them, and changed the Kingdom's name to the Empire of Great Nepal. The British East India Company attempted to intervene in this rapidly-expanding empire in 1767, but of the 2500 men they dispatched, pretty much every single one of them was lost to some combination of disease, desertion, or gruesome kukri wounds to the face. The Gurkhas took the British guns and equipment, turned them on their neighbors, and casually continued their conquest.

>At 4AM on April 16, 1815, 74-year-old Nepalese battle-rager Bhakti Thapa and two thousand of the toughest Gurkha warriors on earth ran screaming out of their camp, brandishing their kukris in their left hands and flintlock shotguns in their right. Ahead of them, positioned atop a steep mountain, lay an almost-unbreakable fortress manned by 3,500 British and Indian soldiers supported by a battery of ultra-modern 6-pounder cannons.

>Thapa, an old man at the head of his rampaging forces, screamed for his men to continue, rushing forward against impossible odds, somehow reaching the barrels of the British cannon and discharging his shotgun into the first artillery officer he could find.

Just a heads up.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/30888640/

>>30904626
I did it for one group of amazon/greek women, with vagina in place of dick. The other groups think they're very weird.

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>>30905575

Yes, but does your love stem from seeing the cowboy aesthetic as a revival of your ancient warrior king Gesar?

No? Because it's pretty fucking sweet.

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>>30905631
>British artillery mowed them down "like wheat", but the Gurkhas still rushed on, reaching the guns, wounding or killing all but six of the gunners, and fighting like demons even as a second line of British infantry formed up in a battle line, unleashed a volley of gunfire, and rushed ahead with their bayonets. The Gurkhas, having fired their shotguns, battled back with swords and kukris, screaming their war-cries and slashing at the enemy in some of the most brutal hand-to-hand fighting the East India Company ever endured.

>After nearly an hour of intense fighting, the Gurkha leader Bhakti Thapa, already wounded several times, his clothes soaked in blood from both himself and his enemies, was shot point-blank in the chest with a Brown Bess, the musketball penetrating his heart and killing him on the spot. Their seemingly-invincible commander now dead, the Gurkhas lost their resolve, and began to fall back. The British line held.

>>30904665
>>30905513
OP here, all this is really interesting. A pity I never heard of these people before, could you recommend a source to get more information on them? If you have more to share, that is very welcome as well.

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>>30905758
>Anyone with any knowledge of military history knows the golden rule – don’t mess with a Gurkha.

>But the knife-wielding mugger in this drama clearly had no idea what he was messing with. He pushed Taitex Phlamachha, a former member of the famous fighting force, up against a wall and demanded money.

>In the fight that ensued, a knife blade was buried in Mr Phlamachha’s arm, but he still managed to get the better of his attacker.The former soldier and black belt in karate and taekwondo warned his attacker: ‘Don’t mess with Gurkhas. We’re trained to fight.’Mr Phlamachha blocked the attacks and at the same time even managed to throw his mobile phone to his wife so she could dial 999.He threw the attacker off then disabled him with a kick before holding on to his clothes with one arm to stop him escaping for a full 15 minutes.The Iraq and Afghanistan veteran had no idea he had a blade in his arm until he saw the knife handle on the road.The heroic ex-soldier said: ‘I tried to warn him – don’t mess with Gurkhas.

>‘My wife was terrified he was going to kill me. She was screaming for help so I threw her my mobile phone.
‘Eventually I threw him off me but he tried to push my wife over. I kicked him and punched him then I heard him say, “I’m in trouble now”.

>‘I will do anything to protect myself and my family.’

I heard that some US military commander or general or something shouted orders at a group of Ghurka troops and they just laughed about it.

Apparently their version of command, you speak quietly.

Culture.

>>30905758

I enjoyed The Dragon in the Lands of Snow, and heard good things about Arrested Histories: Tibet, the CIA, and Memories of a Forgotten War. The first is a bit more from the CIA side, the second is supposed to be interviews from the survivors of the Kham resistance. 2000 men against the Red Army, by the end they were down to around... 50? 60? All of whom were imprisoned for decades.

I learned a lot about it looking into my family history when I was in college and my memory is spotty on the numbers so this is all rough. My great uncle, who I was named after, earned one of the first stars on the Wall of Honor helping the Khampa resistance. Got to meet an old, old man who knew him, was kind of bizarre. We only learned what had happened to him in the 90s, when it was found he had died in a bad jump of CIA trained operatives to deliver arms, gold, and maps to an rebel installation.

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>>30905857
Among the Navajo, it’s rude to introduce yourself the first time you see them. You have to first observe that the person is of good conduct before it’s okay to introduce yourself.

>>30905837
>For 20 years between the wars he was a Gurkha officer, as so many of the 14th Army’s fighting generals were. Indeed, for a time, they were known on the front as the "Mongol Conspiracy." Slim loves the Gurkhas, whose language he speaks. His favourite stories are of Gurkhas. He tells of the paratroopers who were to jump at 300 feet. As they had never jumped before, their havildar asked if they might go a little nearer the ground for their first jump. He was told that this was impossible because the parachutes would not have time to open. "Oh," said the Gurkha, "we get parachutes?"

>>30905881
Dude. Wow. Do you mind if ask you a bit more about your people?

How are the Khamba people doing currently? Are they still being repressed by the Chinese, like the other Tibetans and Uyghurs are?

How many of the Khamba people live in the West? How did your family come to the US?

I heard the largest Tibetan refugee population lives in India.

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>>30905837
> Many years later, after Argentina's surrender to Britain in the 1982 Falklands War, Argentine troops told reporters that rumors of the Gurkhas slitting the throats of 40 Argentine soldiers in single strokes and of Gurkhas jumping into enemy foxholes with live grenades gave them the jitters and seriously shattered their morale.

> One particular diary entry talks about how an Indian army doctor once went up to a British officer and told him that a wounded Gurkha would surely die unless he displayed some "will to live." The officer, the story goes, stormed into the hospital room and barked the order: "Live!" The wounded Gurkha obeyed.

>Near Torcillino on the Asriatic front ex-mess orderly Jitbahadur Rai under going his first experience of battle, a smallish man even for a Gurkha, charged through the smoke of buring grass into a wood and cut down two Germans with his kukri. Unluckily they collapsed on top of him. As he lay under 350 pounds of German, a third gunner came on. Freeing his sword arm, Jiabahadur slashed at the German as he bent down and almost severed the arm above the elbow. Later, the ex-mess orderly was seen walking beside the stretcher bearing his third victim, his bloodstained kukri in one hand, patting the German’s shoulder with the other and explaining in fluent Gurkhali that he had no intention of completing job.

Certain tribes of Native Americans on the Pacific coast believed that after successfully hunting an animal, it was necessary to eat a part of its heart in order to become 'one' with the animal. It was believed that the hunter who did this was able to 'call' on the animal while on the hunt.

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>>30906640

But this one is true anyway.

>>30906628
>They still carry into battle their traditional weapon - an 18-inch long curved knife known as the kukri. In times past, it was said that once a kukri was drawn in battle, it had to "taste blood" - if not, its owner had to cut himself before returning it to its sheath.

>The soldiers are still selected from young men living in the hills of Nepal - with about 28,000 youths tackling the selection procedure for just over 200 places each year.

>The selection process has been described as one of the toughest in the world and is fiercely contested. Young hopefuls have to run uphill for 40 minutes carrying a wicker basket on their back filled with rocks weighing 70lbs.

>>30906854
>A former Revolutionary United Front (RUF) soldier in Sierra Leone remembered seeing them in 1995:
>“Those Vietnamese [Gurkhas]. I remember them.
They carried AKs and large knives. We knew if they caught us we would be eaten. Whites and Africans are easier, we know what they are and what they do.”

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>>30889096
>>Jat ne haathi gadhe ik se laage ae. (The elephant is just a large donkey to a Jat)

>tfw Jat Sikh
There's this anecdote about my maternal grandfather who went to another village to get a buffalo calf. While coming back he saw that the lame calf couldn't walk fast enough, so he hauled the calf over his shoulder and walked 5 miles carrying it. He was 82 then.
When I asked him about this, he said he could have walked another 5 miles by putting the calf on his other shoulder.

This one is from last month when I had gone with my father to attend a wedding in Punjab. My uncle and thirteen year old cousin who were to arrive from a village ended up getting pretty late. When I asked my cousin about it, he said their motorcycle gave out when they a quarter of the way from the village, and they just dragged the bike for the rest of the distance - about 12 kilometers to reach the wedding since they couldn't find a mechanic in the wilderness.

>>30888819
you shouldent be sitting on tables anyways, dick. thats where food goes, not your ass.

>>30906573

The largest expat community is in India, but I'm not a Khamba. My great uncle just happened to be a translator who got wrapped up in shit and involved in it. So he got a spot at Langley and his family were told he had disappeared... Learned what happened much later. The only guy to survive was tortured for 15-20 years and then released, so I guess he got out lucky.

>>30890518
hey now, yeah we do. just not one that expands past our segment of the country.

>>30891153
iv always thought it was fascinating that thats peoples concept of african tribal culture, even though its only like 2 tribes out of thousands that do that

>>30909142
Probably those were one of the first contacts and brought back records, so the stereotype stuck.

>>30909142

It really just depends on what your first exposures were.

>>30901154
Viking democracy was Icelandic though.

Established around 930, if I remember correctly. Every free man could attend the Althing, a gathering held once a year, which acted as both supreme judge and legislative power. Mostly dealt with disputes between lords and the like.

The vikings in general were a lot nicer than people tend to give them credit for.

>>30888946
>non-Maori getting a moko
Why?

The most popular movie shown to Montagnard tribes by French forces during the first Vietnam war was about farmers on the Great Plains. Thanks to the jungle, nobody in most of the villages had seen something more than 30 feet away.

I'm not sure of the details because I never met him, but one of my uncles worked with the Montagnards and they helped him escape the country after the war.

>>30890518
>America
>homogenous
>no cultures
Clearly either not an American, or one who hasn't traveled and considers his own culture to be default and therefore nothing.

>>30913862
>The vikings in general were a lot nicer than people tend to give them credit for.
They were also shorter than people think they were.

>>30906628
I remember a story about some Ghurkas in WWI. Apparently, a British infantryman came upon two Ghurkas who were laughing their asses off. He asked them what was so funny, and they explained in broken English that they had snuck up to the enemy lines, found three Germans asleep in the trenches, then slit the throats of two, and left the one in the middle alive. That was their joke.

Ghurkas are fuckin' crazy.

>>30914486
>Criss-cross laces could therefore mean the difference between life and death. The importance of correct lacing was thus emphasized to British troops. Whether true or not, there is an account of Gurkha soldiers checking the boots and laces of soldiers they encounter in the dark to find if they are friend or foe.

>When Singapore fell, a number of Indian troops went over to the Japanese, the Japanese tried to get the Ghurkha's to also go over. Not one Ghurkha succumbed, when they passed an Indian who did go over, the Ghurkha would draw his finger across his throat, then walk away.

>>30890766
>The white and blue colored cloth, the Maasai nation's flag
I'm not turning up any images of this.

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Loved the thread. Here's an attempt to contribute as best I can.

>The iconic Scottish 'Highland Charge' was developed to deal with the new realities of cannons and gunfire

>In it, warriors would usually group by family (cousins, uncles, brothers, and such) into wedge-shaped blocks, and charge flat-out at opposing lines. Because of the emphasis on speed (because bullets hurt,) it was optimally done downhill towards the enemy, and without armor or lower body clothing lest they inhibit speed

>They would charge to within firearm range- generally about 60 yards- before letting off a volley with all firearms on hand. The gunsmoke would provide protection from return fire, as did the practice of throwing themselves down immediately after firing.

>Once fire, melee weapons were drawn and the charge resumed, ideally after the enemy salvo had just gone over the Scot's heads, but before the enemy had managed to reload (easy) or before they'd had a chance to insert bayonets (more important. Remember, ring bayonets didn't exist for a long time.). Unloaded, bayonet-less rifles were generally vastly inferior to a targ and broadsword in close combat.

>The grouping on family basis encouraged bravery in the face of fire during the charge and ferocious combat when enemy lines were met. Though quite effective at cutting through enemy lines, the primary function of the charge was getting enemy lines to break before contact.


The fact that, by some measures, Scots were poorer than native Americans in terms of resources and wealth throughout much of their history might also be related to the use of such a risk- and manpower-intensive tactic.

As a side note, some argue that due to a number of Scots ending up on the Confederate side in the American Civil War, their history and affinity for attack but lack of equivalent discipline lead to them sometimes making futile and costly charges after the battle had already been decided.

>>30915538
The Scots ended up on the Confederate side because they settled in the South. Some places in the Appalachians are actually remarkably similar to the Scottish highlands, except with more resources.

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>>30915792
Yes. I didn't mean to imply otherwise if I did.

Picture related is allegedly the last (and catastrophically unsuccessful) highland charge.

>>30904325
Wilson was one of the worst presidents the united states ever had.

>>30904325
>Wilson
>not utter shit

>Eisenhower
>utter shit

>Roosevelt
>utter shit

>getaloadofthisgoof.jpg

>>30889292
I'm reminded of Metabarons.

>>30890596
I think I saw an Indonesian action movie that was kinda like this.

>>30913862
Things weren't unique to Iceland, it was just only Iceland where the whole place was governed by one originally, but villages have had things for longer than history goes back.

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>>30914918

>>30922995
Obviously I found that one fine. It's not white and blue.

>>30915943
>>30916005
Excuse that, please. I did mean to include Wilson as well. He may very well have been the worst until Truman came along.

Eisenhower was responsible for the reason the US ended up with a shitload of nuclear weapons that precipitated the Cold War.

>>30915538
Well, if we're gonna do history as well:

>To compensate for the lack of manpower and resources Sweden strove for innovative ways to make an effective army. The successful path of innovative military ideas was in fact the only way Sweden managed to achieve a great power status. However, having to rely on this to maintain power status was uncertain. The Carolean army was small and because of the sparse number of soldiers it needed a continuance of victories, as a heavy defeat could be irreparable.

>Strict discipline was necessary in the Carolean army to allow its very offensive tactics, which among other things exposed soldiers to a medium-distance enemy fire before being allowed to respond. This tactic was intended to get the soldiers close enough to the enemy so that it was almost impossible to miss a shot. The steadfast courage shown from the Swedish troops would also affect enemy morale, at several occasions this would frighten the enemies into retreat

> In four ranks with gaps, the Swedish battalion would "smooth and slowly" march against enemy fire (which often started at a distance of 100 meters), while making their way to the enemy lines.

>>30923171
>Eisenhower was responsible for the reason the US ended up with a shitload of nuclear weapons that precipitated the Cold War.

Honestly, I'm pretty certain that would have happened regardless. The US had never been fond of communists. SovUnion with nukes would only have been addressed well one way; by having more. The alternatives were more drastic.

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>>30923171
> The Swedish soldiers were first issued to fire when "you could see the whites in the enemies eyes" a range of roughly 50 meters—when the marching drums stopped the two rear ranks would fill the gaps within the two foremost ranks and fire a salvo—and then draw their swords.

>>30923027

>>30923171
A bit of history. I was more talking about it as a little 'ethinc' quirk of history and tradition that might bear some elaboration- Just I have a much smaller fund of knowledge to draw upon than based OP.

>>30889292

That is pretty impressive. I have a few things to add so I am bumping until I can write them up.

>>30926564
bumping for you

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>>30926564

In Mauritania, a West African country situated in between Western Sahara and Senegal, thin isn't considered beautiful. Skinny women are viewed as poor and not able to afford food.

For women to find husbands in Mauritania, they have to be fat. So they force-feed themselves large quantities of camel milk, bread crumbs soaked in olive oil, and goat meat. This practice is referred to as "gavage" — the same name used to describe the force-feeding of ducks to make foie gras.

First and second breakfasts consist of olive oil mixed with meal and a large bowl of camel milk. Lunch, of which a trained participant may have two, three, or even four, consist of Lunch is goat meat, bread and another bowl of milk. Dinner is more of the same.

The average Mauritanian girl can gain between 3-10 lbs/week on such a regimen, even accounting for the sweltering heat. The practice can lead to difficulty breathing, perforated stomach or upper GI tracts, and delusions leading to death caused by the high levels of sodium and other imbalances that may occur.

>>30926614
And I'll talk about Easter Island a bit too. Just read a book about it.
First: the moai. The reason there are so many moai, and why they're so big, is a combination of excellent materials and international dick-waving. There's a particular type of rock available on Easter island that's truly excellent for carving, better than almost anything else in the entire area settled by the Polynesians. This allowed for the construction of impressive sculptures, something that the various chiefs of the island immediately capitalized on. This started off a sort of moai arms race, with each chiefdom trying to make the most impressive moai to outdo its neighbors.
As a way of inflating the size of the moai, many were also erected with a 'hat' of red stone, believed to represent a ceremonial headdress of rare red feathers, only available to the elite. Eyes for the moai were also made, but they were fragile and hard to produce, and thus were kept under guard by the priests, only brought out for special ceremonies. Additionally, each of the moai faced inland, looking over the land the erecting chiefdom ruled.

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>>30926706

A cargo cult is a kind of Melanesian millenarian movement encompassing a diverse range of practices and occurring in the wake of contact with the commercial networks of colonizing societies. The name derives from the apparent belief that various ritualistic acts will lead to a bestowing of material wealth ("cargo").

Cargo cults often develop during a combination of crises. Under conditions of social stress, such a movement may form under the leadership of a charismatic figure. This leader may have a "vision" (or "myth-dream") of the future, often linked to an ancestral efficacy thought to be recoverable by a return to traditional morality.

The most infamous of these cults is the Cult of John Frum.

John Frum (or Jon Frum, John From) is a figure associated with cargo cults on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu. He is often depicted as an American World War II serviceman who will bring wealth and prosperity to the people if they follow him. He is sometimes portrayed as black, sometimes as white. Quoting David Attenborough's report of an encounter: "'E look like you. 'E got white face. 'E tall man. 'E live 'long South America."

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>>30926746

An offshoot of the cargo cult movement exists in the celebrity worship movement, most characterized by the Prince Philip religion of the kastom people around Yaohnanen village on the southern island of Tanna in Vanuatu.

The people of the Yaohnanen area believe that Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the consort to Queen Elizabeth II, is a divine being; the pale-skinned son of a mountain spirit and brother of John Frum. According to ancient tales, the son travelled over the seas to a distant land, married a powerful lady and would in time return. The villagers had observed the respect accorded to Queen Elizabeth II by colonial officials and concluded that her husband, Prince Philip, must be the son from their legends.

When the cult formed is unclear, but it is likely that it was sometime in the 1950s or 1960s. Its beliefs were strengthened by the royal couple's official visit to Vanuatu (then the New Hebrides) in 1974, when a few villagers had the opportunity to observe the Prince from afar. At the time, the Prince was not aware of the cult, but the matter was eventually brought to his attention by John Champion, the British Resident Commissioner in the New Hebrides, between 1975 and 1978.

The Resident Commissioner suggested that the Prince send them a portrait of himself. A signed official photograph was duly dispatched. The villagers responded by sending a traditional pig-killing club called a nal-nal. As requested, the Prince in return sent them a photograph of himself posing with the weapon.

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>>30926795

Anyone still paying attention?

Albanian sworn virgins (Albanian: burrnesha or virgjinesha) are women who take a vow of chastity and wear male clothing in order to live as men in the patriarchal northern Albanian society. To a lesser extent, the practice exists, or has existed, in other parts of the western Balkans, including Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia.

Other terms for the sworn virgin include vajzë e betuar (most common today, and used in situations in which the parents make the decision when the girl is a baby or child), mashkull (present-day, used around Shkodra), virgjineshë, virgjereshë, verginesa, virgjin, vergjinesha, Albanian virgin, avowed virgin, muskobani, muskobanj, ostajnica (Serbian: means man-woman, manlike, she who stays), tombelija, basa, harambasa (Montenegrin), tobelija (Bosnian: bound by a vow), zavjetovana djevojka (Croatian), sadik (Stahl, Turk Moslem: honest, just).

A woman becomes a sworn virgin by swearing an irrevocable oath, in front of 12 village or tribal elders, to practice celibacy. Then she is allowed to live as a man. She will then be able to dress in male clothes, use a male name, carry a gun, smoke, drink alcohol, take on male work, act as the head of a household (for example, living with a sister or mother), play music and sing, and sit and talk socially with men.

The sworn virgin is believed to be the only formal, socially defined female-to-male cross-gender and cross-dressing role in Europe. Similar practices occur in some native American tribes in North America.

>>30926795
>tfw you will never receive an autographed portrait of your god

>>30913862
>>30901154
A "Thing" is not really an invention of the Vikings: its older than them: its a Germanic tradition.

I know Greeks pretty much are the figureheads of democracy in the ancient world, but germans introduced the concept of being judged by a jury of your peers as opposed to a bunch of learned men who mostly belonged to the upper classes, which is what the Romans and Greeks did.

>>30926719
This arms race is what eventually killed the civilization on Easter Island. When the settlers first arrived, Easter Island was covered in a dense tropical forest. However, the process of erecting the moai required large amounts of wood and bark- for the long, sturdy sets of rails used to transport them, and for the ropes used to hoist them up. as the moai race continued, more and more trees were felled, until finally there were none left.
You have to question what they were thinking and saying as they cut down the last tree.
Now, Easter Island is a very ecologically marginal place, having one of the most fragile ecologies out of all the polynesian islands. With all the trees gone, erosion carried away nearly all of the arable land, and the Easter Island civilization collapsed. The chiefdoms attacked each other for food stores and territory. As the crisis continued, the chiefs and priests were killed by starving rioters, and the former towns and villages were abandoned in favor of easily defensible caves, as the people resorted to cannibalism. The population dwindled from its peak of tens, possibly hundreds of thousands to barely over a thousand, which is all it supports today.
There's an unfinished moai in the quarry where they were made. By far the largest ever found, it would have weighed in at 270 tons- far too large to transport for the resources the Easter Islanders had, even at their peak. It would have been destined to sit on the quarry floor. Makes you think: what the fuck were they thinking.
>>30926856
Absolutely.

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>>30926893

You forgot my favorite part of the Easter Island traditions though.

The Great Egg Race and the Tangata Manu:

The Tangata manu (bird-man) was the winner of a traditional competition on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). The ritual was an annual competition to collect the first Sooty Tern (manu tara) egg of the season from the islet of Motu Nui, swim back to Rapa Nui and climb the sea cliff of Rano Kau to the clifftop village of Orongo.

In the Rapa Nui mythology, the deity Make-make was the chief god of the birdman cult, the other three gods associated with it being Hawa-tuu-take-take (the Chief of the eggs) his wife Vie Hoa and Vie Kanatea.

Contestants were revealed in dreams by ivi-attuas, or prophets. The contestants would each appoint a Hopu who would swim to Motu Nui and fetch them the Egg, whilst the contestants waited at Orongo. The race was very dangerous and many Hopu were killed by sharks, drowning or falling.

Once the first egg was collected, the final task would be for the unsuccessful contestants to return to Orongo, the winner allowed to remain in Motu Nui until he felt spiritually prepared to return. On his return he would present the egg to his patron, who had already shaved his head and painted it either white or red. The successful man would be declared Tangata-Manu, would take the egg in his hand and lead a procession down the slope of Rano Kau to Anakena if he was from the western clans or Rano Raraku if he was from the eastern clans. Once in residence there he was considered tapu (sacred) for the next five months of his year-long status, and allowed his nails to grow and wore a headdress of human hair. The new Tangata-Manu was given a new name, entitled to gifts of food and other tributes (including his clan having sole rights to collect that season's harvest of wild bird eggs and fledglings from Motu Nui), and went into seclusion for a year in a special ceremonial house.

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>>30890524

>>30926893
Destroying the jungle also killed their wildlife, so the last tree probably was for a canoe to go back to the mainland.

>>30926946
Easter's one of the most remote islands in the entire Pacific ocean- the world even. I think the fucking South Pole is closer to another permanent settlement than Easter is, but don't quote me on that.
>>30926935
Cool. The book was focused on their collapse (the collapse of civilizations in general, really) and didn't go too much in depth about other stuff.

>>30915877
>That one really fat highlander

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>>30926935

The Nivkh (also Nivkhs, Nivkhi, or Gilyak; ethnonym: Nivxi; language, нивхгу - Nivxgu) are an indigenous ethnic group inhabiting the northern half of Sakhalin Island and the region of the Amur River estuary in Russia's Khabarovsk Krai. Nivkh were mainly fishermen, hunters, and dog breeders. The Nivkh were semi-nomadic living near the coasts in the summer and wintering inland along streams and rivers to catch salmon.

Nivkh clans (khal) were a group of people united by marriage ties, a common derived deity, arranging marriages, and responsible for group dispute resolution. The clan is divided into three exogamous sub-clans. A clan would cooperate with other members on hunts and fishing when away from the village. A Nivkh clan believed they had "one (common) akhmalk or imgi, one fire, one mountain man…one bear, one devil, one tkhusind (ransom, or clan penalty), and one sin."

Nivkh's traditional religion was based on animist beliefs, especially via shamanism, before colonial Russians made efforts to convert the population to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Nivkh animists believe the island of Sakhalin is a giant beast lying on its belly with the trees of the island as its hair. When the beast is upset, it awakens and trembles the earth causing earthquakes.

Nivkh Shamans also presided over the Bear Festival, a traditional holiday celebrated between January and February. Bears were captured and raised in a corral for several years by local women, treating the bear like a child.

The bear was considered a sacred earthly manifestation of Nivkh ancestors and the gods in bear form. During the Festival, the bear would be dressed in a ceremonial costume. It would be offered a banquet to take back to the realm of gods to show benevolence to the clans. After the banquet, the bear would be sacrificed in an elaborate religious ceremony. The bear's spirit returned to the gods of the mountain 'happy' and would then reward the Nivkh with bountiful forests.

>>30927029
Similar bear sacrifices were also done by the Ainu, and I think were even taken up by Yamato Japanese in some places

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>>30904665
>Yeah, imagine an entire culture protecting a foreign spiritualist out of honor, duty, and mutual respect.

Wrong. The Khampa were subject to the Theocratic States that ruled Tibet and was Tibet's their answer to Tibet's mortal nemesis of the time: The Gurkhas.

Furthermore the Khampas inspired the uniform of a unit of Qing Chinese infantry who dress up in their costumes, kinda like how Central Asian/East European Cavalrymen inspired the jacket and shako of the Hussars. These Qing light infantrymen were known as Tigermen. There were only small numbers of them as they were specialist units, and often fought in mountainous locations with sword & shield and musket.

Also fun fact: The Gurkhas (And Nepal) hate the fuck out of Tibet, and are quite happy with their situation as a Chinese SAR.

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>>30927134

As did the Finns

The bear was an important cult animal in Finnish paganism. The pre-Christian Finns believed the bear to have come from the stars and that it had the ability to reincarnate. After a successful bear hunt, a celebration called karhunpeijaiset (literally "celebration of the bear") was arranged in honour of the slain bear. The purpose of the ceremony was to placate the bear and to convince its soul that it was greatly respected by the people. The bear was so feared that some of the songs sung during the ceremony were meant to convince the bear it hadn't been slain by the hunters, rather that it had killed itself by accident.

The people presiding over the ceremony tried to make the bear's soul happy so that the bear would want to reincarnate back into the forest. After the bear's meat was eaten, the bones were buried. The skull, however, which was believed to contain the bear's soul, was placed high upon the branches of an old pine tree. This tree, kallohonka (skull pine), was probably a symbol of the world tree and the ceremony was meant to deliver the bear's soul back to the heavens, from where it had originated. From the heavens, the bear would come back and reincarnate to walk the earth.

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>>30927271


Digambar also spelled Digambara is one of the two main sects of Jainism. Senior Digambar monks wear no clothes, following the practice of Lord Mahavira. They do not consider themselves to be nude — they are wearing the environment. Digambaras believe that this practice represents a refusal to give in to the body’s demands for comfort and private property — only Digambara ascetics are required to forsake clothing.

Digambara ascetics have only two possessions: a peacock feather broom and a water gourd.The native Jain communities of Maharashta, Bundelkhand (MP/UP), Karnataka, Tamil Nadu are all Digambaras. In north India, the Saravagis and the Agrawals are also Digambaras. In Gujarat and Southern Rajasthan, the majority of Jains follow the Svetambara tradition, although some Jain communities of these regions like the Humad are also Digambaras.

>>30926856
That sounds quite similar to an Afghani practice

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>>30927521

You mean Bacha posh?

Bacha posh ("dressed up as a boy" in the Dari language) is a cultural practice in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan in which some families without sons will pick a daughter to live and behave as a boy. This enables the child to behave more freely: attending school, escorting her sisters in public, and working. Bacha posh also allows the family to avoid the social stigma associated of not having any male children.

In Afghanistan and Pakistan, there is no societal pressure for families to have a son to carry on the family name and to inherit the father's property. In the absence of a son, families may dress one of their daughters as a male, with some holding the superstition that having a bacha posh will make it more likely for a mother to give birth to a son in a subsequent pregnancy.

The purpose of the practice is not deception and many people, such as teachers or family friends, will be aware that the child is actually a girl. In her family, she will occupy an intermediate status in which she is treated as neither a daughter nor fully as a son, but she will not need to cook or clean like other girls. As a bacha posh, a girl is more readily able to attend school, run errands, move freely in public, escort her sisters in places where they could not be without a male companion, play sports and find work.

The girl's status as a bacha posh usually ends when she enters puberty. Women raised as a bacha posh often have difficulty making the transition from life as a boy and adapting to the traditional constraints placed on women in Afghan society.

Thanks, this thread is really interesting.

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>>30927566

And a personal favorite that doesn't get too much use: The Anchorite

Anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress; adj. anchoritic; from Ancient Greek: ἀναχωρητής, "one who has retired from the world", from the verb ἀναχωρέω, anachōreō, signifying "to withdraw", "to retire") denotes someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, and—circumstances permitting—Eucharist-focused life. As a result, anchorites are usually considered to be a type of religious hermit, (being similar to hermits in seeking to live a solitary life devoted to God, although distinct in being permanently enclosed in cells which were usually attached to churches) although there are distinctions in their historical development and theology.

The anchoritic life became widespread during the early and high Middle Ages. Examples of the dwellings of anchorites and anchoresses survive. They tended to be a simple cell (also called anchorhold), built against one of the walls of the local village church, In the Germanic lands from at least the tenth century it was customary for the bishop to say the office of the dead as the anchorite entered her cell, to signify the anchorite's death to the world and rebirth to a spiritual life of solitary communion with God and the angels. Sometimes, if the anchorite was walled up inside the cell, the bishop would put his seal upon the wall to stamp it with his authority. But some anchorites freely moved between their cell and the adjoining church.

Hearing Mass and receiving Holy Communion was possible through a small, shuttered window in the common wall facing the sanctuary, called a "hagioscope" or "squint". There was also a small window facing the outside world, through which the inhabitant would receive food and other necessities and, in turn, could provide spiritual advice and counsel to visitors, as the anchorites gained a reputation for wisdom.

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>>30927803

For more than 700 years, at Grishneshwar Temple in western India’s Maharashtra state, parents have asked clerics to drop their infants from a 50-foot tower. The parents believe that the practice will make their children more intelligent, braver, luckier, and healthier. The children are generally between the ages of one and two and are dropped from the tower, where they free-fall into a sheet held by men below, then are quickly passed into the arms of their waiting parents.

Many Westerners and secular Indians who have witnessed the spectacle are horrified by this ceremony, but it is fairly common in rural parts of India and is practiced both by Muslims and Hindus. Although religious officials declare that no child has ever been injured in the ritual, state officials are currently working to ban the practice. Supporters of the ban state the trauma and danger to the children, who are understandably terrified and visibly shaken by the ordeal, but those opposed to the ban feel strongly that practitioners should be allowed religious freedom.

>>30915877

>the fatty on the very right

Looks like the only thing on his mind is what's for dinner after the battle

>>30927803
Apparently anchorites were the biggest gossips around, because the only thing they had to talk about was the other stuff people came to talk to them about

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>>30927834

Every year on the fourth Sunday in January, the locals of a small town named Manganeses de la Polvorosa gather together for the goat tossing festival, in honor of St Vincent de Paul, their patron saint. The festival has been around for so long that no one knows when it started. It involves a young man who finds a goat in the village, ties it up, and takes it to the top of the local Church belfry. He then tosses the goat over the side and it falls 50 feet where it is (hopefully) caught by villagers holding up a sheet of tarpaulin. The village officials banned the event but it continues regardless. Various animal rights agencies have complained about it – though their complaints have also been ignored.

>>30927857
>Get out of here! This isn't the goat tower it's the people tower!

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>>30927834

Forgot about another favorite baby-endangering festival:

Dating from 1620, El Colacho (or baby jumping) is a festival in Spain held every year on the feast of Corpus Christi. The festival involves the laying on mattresses all babies born in the previous twelve months. The adult men of the village of Castrillo de Murcia then dress up as devils and take turns jumping over the babies. The festival often results in injuries (usually of the adults) and it is believed that the jumping rids the babies of original sin – a bizarre kind of baptism. Pope Benedict XVI has recently asked the local priests to distance themselves from the festival as it is dangerous and contrary to the Catholic religion.

>>30927803
That sign in the picture makes this inordinately absurd.
>gee, Sister Martha, your cell is a restaurant that's always closed?

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>>30927875

I figure you weebs all know this one, but it is a fun one.

Every year in spring, the festival of Kanamara Matsuri (The Steel Phallus) is held in Kawasaki, Japan. It is a Shinto fertility festival and, as you would expect, it involves a rather large penis statue. During the festival, people can buy candies, vegetables, and gifts in the shape of a phallus. The festival was very popular amongst prostitutes who thought that participation would help to prevent them getting sexually transmitted diseases.

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>>30927908

Hanging from the walls and ceilings of a church in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil is a collection of wax or plastic arms, legs, livers, hearts, lungs, eyes, uteri, and other internal organs and miscellaneous body parts. The church, Igreja de Nosso Senhor do Bonfim (Church of our Lord of Bonfim or the “Good End”), is the site of an annual religious ceremony and procession called the Festa do Bonfim (Feast of the Good End), when church goers dress in traditional clothing, attend the mass at the Church of Conceição da Praia in Salvador, then walk eight kilometers uphill to the Igreja de Nosso Senhor do Bonfim.

Upon arrival, they wash the steps and plaza in front of the church, all the while singing and dancing. The event is hugely popular and draws thousands of people from all over the world. The church is believed to have curative properties, and in the Sala dos Milagres (Room of Miracles), people hang wax or plastic representations of various body parts and photos of themselves or loved ones as either an offering to pray for divine intervention or thanks for curing a particular ailment. Seeing all those body parts hanging from the ceiling can be a tad jarring to the uninitiated, but they are left in a spirit of hope and gratitude.

>>30927834
This combines two of my largest phobias: heights, and watching babies being killed.

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>>30927930

Most cultures celebrate life and death, but very few celebrate those who have managed to escape death. In Spain people celebrate the Fiesta de Santa Marta Ribarteme. Santa Marta de Ribarteme is the saint of resurrection. The festival occurs in As Neves, Galicia each year at the end of July.

The festivities begin in the mid-morning, with thousands of people pouring into the streets of the small town, according to donquijote.org. First, all the attendees celebrate Mass. Afterward, those who have experienced near death experiences climb into coffins, which are carried through the streets by their families. Spectators line the streets and observe the procession of people being carried in caskets. The procession takes people up the nearby hill to the cemetery, which the procession circulates around.

The festival is a way for the people who escaped death recently to show gratitude for their life to the patron saint of resurrection.

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>>30928010

The Monkey Buffet Festival takes place each year on Nov. 25 in the small province of Lopburi, Thailand, north of Bangkok. Thailand residents believe monkeys bring good fortune in the form of visitors to the region. The festival was initiated to promote tourism to Thailand. It is a way for the locals to thank the monkeys for bringing tourism to the town, according to the Telegraph. Locals set up tables of fruits and other foods that the monkeys will enjoy, and allow them to run around and eat as they please.

A local hotelier thought up the concept in 1989. Now, the Thailand Tourism Authority sponsors the festivities. Thousands of pounds of food are brought in for the monkeys to stuff themselves with. Each year, thousands of visitors come to witness the event. Other than the fun of watching monkeys go crazy over food, there is no other significance to the event.

But there should be.

>>30927887
A lot of old things get repurposed.

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>>30927887

It's a perfect hole in the wall sort of place.

>>30928068

No shit, Captain Obvious.

>>30927962
The babies don't die.

>>30928120
My phobia doesn't care, it's still babies getting tossed off a fifty-foot tower.

>>30928010
>>30927875
>>30927857
>meanwhile in Spain
>>30927930
>meanwhile in Latin America

Why are Catholics so weird?

>>30928041
>first paragraph explains the significance
>second states that there is none

>>30928165
Yes, the first paragraph explains that the festival is about bringing good fortune to the town by attracting tourists to see the monkeys

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>>30928041

And on the subject of animals: Indian animal-human marriages. The subcontinent has had a few recent cases of such marriages, mostly focusing on dogs.

In June 2003, a nine-year-old Indian girl of the Santal (or 'Santhal') tribe of Khanyhan, near Calcutta was formally married to a dog, in order to ward off a bad omen. The wedding was attended by more than one hundred guests, who danced to the beating of drums and drank home-made liquor. The girl told Western press, "I have no regret in marrying the dog. I will take care of this dog who was stray and survived on left-overs", tribal elders added she was free to remarry a human in future as an adult.

In November 2007 a man in southern India married a female dog in a traditional Hindu ceremony as an attempt to atone for stoning two other dogs to death – an act he believes cursed him. Selvakumar, 33, told the paper he had been suffering since he stoned two dogs to death and hung their bodies from a tree 15 years prior.

In February 2009 an infant boy was married off to his neighbors' dog in eastern India by villagers who said it will stop the groom from being killed by wild animals. The boy will still be able to marry a human bride in the future without filing for divorce.

I hope there was no consummation

Danes have really ritualized meals, if that counts. Coffee is taken at three with a bunch of different varieties of cookies and cakes that have a specific order you have to eat them in, and big parties last half the day or more, starting with shaking the hand of everyone there (literally everyone, this is important) then there's a few courses of food, then people have songs they're prepared for the host and/or guest of honor, sung to tunes that everyone knows but with lyrics written for the occasion and shared around on print-outs. Then more food, then people go outside theoretically for games or walking the grounds but mostly for talking. Then back inside for some more courses of food.

>>30928222
This is strange and I want to know more.

I hope there was, but doubt it.

>>30928100
CarLOOOOOS!

>>30928222

I actually started looking up some marriage customs and decided to just pop up a series of various customs here from Africa that I found interesting, starting with Ethiopia (it's poorly written, but gets the message out).

In Ethiopia the Karo people enhance a young brides beauty by tattooing her abdomen with different symbols. Amhara people: most marriages are negotiated by the two families, with a civil ceremony sealing the contract. A priest may be present. Divorce is allowed and must also be negotiated. There is also a "temporary marriage," by oral contract before witnesses.

The woman is paid housekeeper's wages, and is not eligible for inheritance, but children of the marriage are legally recognized and qualify for inheritance. Priests may marry but not eligible for divorce or remarriage. The Wedding procedure starts with the grooms side sending a representative who request the marriage between the parties. Then an appointment is given and a verdict on the marriage is given. Before the wedding the Dowry is given as agreed. On the wedding day the groom and three or four "bestmen" go to the wifes house. At the house the ladies family and friends ceremonially block the entrance to the house. The associates must sing strongly and force their way into the house. The first bestman holds perfume and sprays everywhere inside the house. The brides family sing songs . Christian marriages, mainly in Tigray and Amhara regions, are often arranged by the parents of the bride and groom with a great deal of negotiation. According to tradition and culture the bride must be virgin when the marriage takes place. Because the bride virginity is highly valued and pride in Christian marriage, with the whole family being shamed if the bride is not virgin at marriage.

>>30928302

Kenya
The Massai people of Kenya grow up with children of their own age and normally form relationships with these people. However, in marriage women are given to a man they do not know who is much older then themselves. The bride packs all her belongings and is dressed in her finest jewelry. At the marriage ceremony the father of the bride spits on the brides head and breasts as a blessing and then she leaves with her husband walking to her new home she never looks back fearing that she will turn to stone. This can be a very sad experience for the bride, who is 13-16 years old and may walk a long way to get to her new house. In order to ward off bad luck sometimes the women of the grooms family will even insult the bride.

>>30928324

The Swahili of Kenya bathe brides in sandalwood oils and tattoo henna designs on her limbs. A women elder, or somo, gives instructions to the bride on how to please her husband. Sometimes the somo will even hide under the bed in case there are any problems! In a small city called Lamu, situated outside the coast of Kenya, lives a group of Swahili Muslims. In this community the weddings can be going on for a whole week with a lot of festivities consisted of singing, dancing and food. But these festivities are celebrated separate for men and women. After the "real" wedding the bride is shown in public, with a so-called, kupamba.

This ceremony is always taking place the evening after the wedding and it is the grand finale of the passage rite, in which the young bride enters the married women’s world. Today this particularly ceremony has become more in focus than some years ago when the kuinngia ndani (the entry) was the main attraction. It is a ceremony when the groom is walking down the streets to meet his bride and then complete first phase of the wedding. The kupamba has become more popular of various reasons, but the main reason is the fact that it is an opportunity for women to meet and have a good time without their husbands. When the enter this party they all take off their black veils and underneath they have beautiful dresses and wonderful haircuts etc.

Another problem with this kupamba is that many families almost ruin themselves just to be able to have this party for their daughters. The musicians and food cost plenty of money.

The ethnic Dixie people of the USA have a festival that they hold at various times of year (commonly New Years and the 4th of July) called the "demolition derby" where people skilled with cars get in old vehicles, and bang them into each other until only one car still works. The areas for this are relatively small, preventing great speed, and it is forbidden to ram into the drvier's side door to prevent injury. In addition, all the glass has been removed from the windows and drivers wear padded protective outfits. This is a spectator sport where local groups have strong factionalism and bet on personal friends or favorite drivers, and is usually accompanied by moderate amounts of drinking, and followed by more.

I'm trying to think of white people cultural quirks but they're mostly too wide-spread to be interesting. Do you guys know about Rodeos? They're similar to demolition derbies but I think they're more widely known due to cowboy mythos.

>>30928342

Kenya (cont.)

For the Samburu people marriage is a unique series of elaborate ritual. Great importance is given to the preparation of gifts by the bridegroom (two goatskins, two copper earrings, a container for milk, a sheep) and of gifts for the ceremony. The marriage is concluded when a bull enters a hut guarded by the bride's mother, and is killed.

Namibia

The Himba people of Namibia kidnap a bride before the ceremony and dress her in a leather marriage headdress. After the ceremony she is brought into the house where the family tells her what her responsibilities will be as the wife and then anoint her with butterfat from cows. This shows that she has been accepted into the family.

Niger

The Wodabee of Niger court their cousins for marriage. The male cousins wear powerful amulets which are supposed to heighten their attractiveness to the girl. Wodaabe are often polygamous Marriages are either arranged by parents when the couple are infants (called “koogal”), or they can be because of love and attraction (called “teegal”). The family of the groom gives a bride price to the bride's family and then they are married. A bride stays with her husband until she becomes pregnant after which she returns to her mother's home, where she will remain for the next three to four years. She will deliver the baby at her mother's home and then she becomes a boofeydo which literally means, "someone who has committed an error." During the time of being a boofeydo, she is not permitted to see or speak with her husband. It is a cultural sin for him to express any interest in her or the newborn child. After two to three years, her mother will release her to visit her husband, but she still will not be permitted to live with him or bring the child with her until the woman's mother can purchase everything that is needed for her home. Once these items are purchased, she is allowed to go and live with her husband, taking her child with her.

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>>30928147
No we're not.

Why are heretics weird??
>Disregarding science.
>Speaking in tongues.
>Holding snakes in worship.
>Holding hate signs in front of funerals, gatherings, and other celebrations.

>>30928359

Nigeria

In Nigeria, in west Africa, a husband never uses his wife’s name. Only relatives and the women's own children are allowed to use the name her father gave her and it is only unmarried girls who may be called by name. So to learn a married woman’s name, one have to ask her husband the name of her father, and use that. When a couple are about to get married in this community people sing to inform that the bride is bound and is brought to the young man.

Singing and dancing are two very important fragments in the Nigerian weddings and they are always combined with a big feast. The bride is kept in a special hut where she stays till he is let inside. But first he has to give chicken and tobacco to the guest and when all have got this the bride groom is let inside the brides’s hut and the marriage is announced. Next day a goat is killed for the bride and the blood is poured over the threshold of the hut. and the bride’s mother asks her daughter if she is pleased with the groom. After this the dancing starts again and the drums call make visitors come and they give the bride a penny to see her face and another penny for camwood to rub her body. In Nigeria marriage is seen as a bound between blood relations and are considered as very important.

"Today the traditional African weddings are dying and are becoming more like the Western-style church weddings. This has more or less become norm in Nigeria today. Even though people are born and raised in Nigeria they are still likely to have a Western-style white wedding at the expense of a proper African wedding"
The reason behind this can be the Nigerian Church and the Eurocentric missionaries who influenced the Church and the African groups. But there are some in Nigeria who still live after the old traditions and are preforming the traditionally wedding ceremonies.

>>30928388

Senegal

Traditional Wolof wedding ceremonies, the parents of the groom-to-be sends elders to the girl’s parents with kola nuts and money to ask for her hand in marriage. The girl’s parents consult their daughter and either consent to or reject the proposal. If accepted, the parents of the bride to be distribute the kola nuts among the family and neighbours. This distribution is an informal way of announcing the impending wedding. In more traditional practices, the groom to be’s family paid the girl’s bride price in the form of money.

This tradition, has been modernized and dowry is paid in money, cars or even houses. After the completion of the groom’s obligations, the two families set a wedding day. Before the wedding day, the groom’s family gives a party to welcome their daughter-in-law and to prepare her to live with her new family. The imam and elders advise the groom with the presence of the some representatives of the bride’s parents.

Weddings traditionally take place at the groom's home. Parents receive guests with food and drink (but not alcohol), while guests bring gifts of money, rice, drinks, ships, sugar, or spices. After the ceremony people feast and dance with guests hiring a griot (praise-singer) and giving further gifts to the groom’s parents. The girl moves to the husband's (or his parent's) home or compound, bringing utensils for cooking which she buys with the money from the bride price.

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>>30928417

From marriage to something brighter: death rituals.

The mysterious Bo people of the Hemp Pond Valley in Southwest China's Gongxian County flourished for millennia before they were massacred by the Ming Dynasty over five centuries ago. Today, the Bo are almost completely forgotten, save for the dramatic hanging coffins they have left behind — a haunting array of wooden caskets that extend from the rock face to a height of almost 300 feet. Located just above the Crab Stream, the 160 coffins were placed along the cliffs and within natural caves, with some resting on wooden posts that extend out from the cliffside. The precipice itself features many murals that are painted with bright cinnabar red colors, many of which depict the lives of the Bo people. Today, the locals refer to the long-lost civilization by such names as "Sons of the Cliffs" and "Subjugators of the Sky." But why they interred their dead in this way remains a complete mystery.