VIDEO | From baby tossing to marrying a tree: 5 BIZARRE Asian traditions that need to end right now!

South Asian countries have rich and diverse cultures with their own unique customs. However, the cohesion of ethnicity in the region also lends it to some of the most absurd-sounding traditions.

Here are five bizarre traditions you did not know about:

1. Baby tossing

In the southern Indian state of Karnataka, newborn babies are dropped from a 50 feet high temple to “bring well-being and fortune to lives.”

In the first week of December, married couples who are blessed with a child take a vow at the temple to participate in this bizarre practice every year.

2. Sky burial 

Buddhists in Tibet follow a holy ritual called Sky burial. In this ritual, dead bodies are taken to open areas at a very high altitude, where they are left behind for hunters. According to people, this tradition provides resources to earth. The custom has been made illegal now, but it can still be practiced with the dead’s family’s consent.

3. Fire walking festival 

The Fire walking festivity has been observed in some countries like Sri Lanka and India, where walking on burning stones can avert evil spirits and is considered as a purification custom. In some areas of Pakistan, people use this as a justification system to prove the innocence of a guilty. If the person walks over it without any wounds, they are, considered innocent otherwise proven guilty.

4. Night Hunting

There is a tradition in Bhutan, called Bomena, where boys wander during the night searching for homes where young girls, who are suitable for marriage, have been sleeping. The intention is to stay the night at the girl’s house with her permission.

However, it is not easy as young girls usually sleep with their entire families and any objection from her gets the boy thrown out. However, laws have been enacted to stop this weird custom.

5. Marry a tree

According to astrological readings in the Hindu tradition, some girls in India are considered to be born cursed. Those girls who are born when planets Mars and Saturn are both under the seventh house are known as ‘Mangliks.’

According to the Hindu belief, such a girl brings early death to her husband, and the curse can only be broken after she gets married to a tree before she marries her fiance.

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