The traditions of different peoples of our planet conceal many interesting and unknown things.
And the mysterious, sometimes even forbidden, topic of sex could not remain aside from customs and, accordingly, was reflected in various rituals, sometimes very unusual.
Sexual caresses and partner arousal
1. Among the inhabitants of the Trobriand Islands, one of the sexiest caresses is considered to be nibbling on a partner's eyelashes.
2. In Korea they believed that The best way to enhance a man’s arousal, inject 1-2 cm into the root of the penis with a needle.
3. Men of the Panape tribe, which lives in Micronesia, stimulate their partners with the help of ants, which sting very painfully. The insects are specially kept in boxes and, in the midst of sexual caresses, are planted directly on the clitoris of the beloved.
4. The sexual traditions of some other African tribes are also associated with insects, namely with the same ants. The partners place their buttocks under their stings, which turn into poisonous bites into a continuous erogenous zone...
5. Before making love, a couple from the Siron tribe in Eastern Bolivia has long had a tradition of cleaning each other from ticks, lice and fleas. For greater excitement, lovers also swallow these insects.
It was believed that this atavism remained in the Siron tribe from the monkeys. However, upon closer examination, it turned out that one of the varieties of lice that can live on the human body has a pronounced stimulating effect. It continues sexual arousal for hours and makes it more durable. Maybe this is why the Siron Indians can have sex every day for 5-6 hours.
6. But in Zimbabwe they love dry sex. There it is believed that friction should be hard. Therefore, before sexual intercourse, local women rub their intimate organs with special herbs that create increased dryness. And men make special scar cuts on the penis so that the friction is as strong as possible.
Defloration and amputation
7. Men of the Hottentot tribe from South Africa have maintained the tradition of amputating one of their testicles. This is done to prevent twins from being born in the family, the appearance of which is considered a curse for the tribe.
8. In many Islamic countries, for example in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the custom of ceremonial defloration has been preserved to this day. This is when the hymen is torn index finger right hand, wrapped in a white cloth, which, of course, should be dyed red. This happens publicly during the wedding ritual. And this despite the fact that the bride, and then the wife, can only show her face to her husband.
9. An even more terrible ritual of defloration occurs in certain tribes of equatorial Africa. The girls are sent into the jungle so that the role of the first man will be played by... a male gorilla. And if a girl failed to attract the “monkey,” this cast a shadow on her reputation as a potential spouse: they say even the gorilla didn’t bite! It is clear that most often this ended in an attack, or an imitation of an attack by one of the tribesmen. At the same time he is in literally he could do whatever he wanted with the unfortunate girl. The more injuries and mutilations a virgin received, the higher position she then occupied in the hierarchy of the tribe. This is the price to pay for sexual disability.
10. In the Zakai tribe (Sumatra island), the bride had to be deflowered by the father, who was helped by the bride’s uncles, i.e. brothers of father and mother (regardless of age). Sometimes up to 25 men aged from 70 to 10 years gathered at the bed of the unfortunate girl.
11. In ancient India, the defloration procedure was performed for money by people specially trained in this “skill.” The decision to take the girl to such a specialist was made by her mother. Deflowering took place using the symbol of a phallus made of stone, wood or other materials. After this, the girl was inserted into the vagina special remedy from medicinal leaves that heal and reduce discomfort. At the same time, the blood that the girl lost during the process, by the decision of the parents, could be collected and further used as a love spell.
12. Almost all tribes in South America and some African tribes had a widespread tradition of deflowering themselves with a wooden dildo. After which the torn hymen was covered with pieces of antiseptic plants.
13. And in Papua New Guinea, the right to deflower a girl belonged exclusively to the high priest. This happened with the help wooden knife. And the groom was obliged to invite other men to “test” the newly-made bride. Only after this was the wedding celebrated and the wife had to remain faithful in the marriage.
14. Quite the opposite was done in some tribes in Africa. There they fought to “save” the bride. And they solved this matter radically - the girl’s vagina is simply sewn up early age and “reveal” it only before the wedding at a special council of elders.
15. In the 19th century, it became popular in Europe to feign virginity, and the art was passed down from mothers to daughters. The girls created bleeding using a fish bladder, a sponge soaked in blood, or other tricks. Even then, the vaginal opening was sometimes stitched together, and sometimes special drugs were used to narrow it. Well, today feigning innocence is a well-established surgical operation.
16. And in Japan, virginity can only be proven by heavy bleeding, so special balls filled with a liquid similar to blood were inserted into the vagina to simulate it.
Traditions of polygamy and substitution
17. But if you think that virginity is a value, then you have never heard of the customs of the Tibetans. In this mountainous region, marriage with an untouched girl was considered a disgrace. And if the village found out about this fact, the couple could be expelled altogether... Therefore, the mothers literally ordered the girl to give herself to at least twenty men. Moreover, Tibet has never been a nearby populated place, which made the process particularly extreme. However, telling your husband about the number of partners was considered unethical. The lists of those who were blessed were kept by the mother-in-law and mother-in-law.
18. Similar traditions still exist on the island of Mangaia in Oceania. Mothers there approve of their daughters having multiple sexual partners. It is believed that this way the girl has a chance to choose the best groom. Therefore, after her 18th birthday, if a girl stays away from men, then 20-30 peers and other single men are literally driven through her bed. Group sexual violence is also not prohibited, so girls prefer to be very sociable with the opposite sex.
19. And here is how researcher Jacques Marciro describes a wedding in the Marquesas Islands: “All the men invited to the wedding stand in line, singing and dancing, and in turn, in order of seniority, perform sexual intercourse with the bride.”
20. But in the Shilluk tribe, which lives in Central Africa, the opposite is true. There is a tradition there of marrying the king to several dozen beauties (up to 77). But this is the case when the harem is sorrow, not joy. Essentially, harem slaves condemn their master to death. As soon as ten or more women begin to complain that a man does not satisfy them, the poor fellow is threatened not only with overthrow from an honorary post, but also with death in terrible agony. For, as the Shilluk belief goes, an impotent person cannot betray the power of the earth's fertility. The worst thing about this is the death penalty. Here's who Viagra probably saves lives
21. In Kamchatka, for many centuries, it was considered a great honor if a guest entered into an intimate relationship with the host’s wife. Accordingly, the latter made every effort to look as seductive as possible in front of the guest. If a child appeared in a hospitable hostess as a result of such contact, the event was celebrated by the entire settlement... This blessed time ended at the beginning of the 20th century, but its echoes have survived to this day in the form of anecdotes. By the way, the Kamchadals do not have the concept of adultery in their language, and they treat adultery much more calmly than other peoples.
22. A similar custom was in the everyday life of the Australian aborigines from the Arunta tribe. True, they shared their wives with each other. Therefore, modern swingers are not innovators at all. The Eskimos of Alaska and the Chukchi reindeer herders observed the tradition of loaning their wives to men from a stronger clan.
23. Also in the valleys of mountainous Tibet, they also believed that if a guest liked someone else’s wife, then this was the highest will of the gods, and he should be allowed to “use” her. In Mongolia, the owner of a yurt in which there is a guest will, as a matter of course, offer to spend the night with his wife.
24. Few people know, but some temples in southern India can give a head start to brothels. For example, in the Saundatti temple, the tradition of sacred prostitution has flourished for hundreds of years. During festivals and when there is a large flow of pilgrims, "jogamma" and "jogappa" - young women and boys - copulate with the pilgrims in exchange for their donations to the temple. These acts of love are dedicated to the "mother of the world" goddess Yellama, her husband Yamadagni and their son Parazuram, who, as the myth tells, cut off his mother's head.
It happens something like this: before entering the chambers, they pronounce a mantra, leave donations to the temple and the gods, and hide behind a heavy drapery. There, believers and ministers of the Yellama cult fall into a trance and, half-oblivious, perform the ritual of “maituna” - “saving intercourse.” After some time, they, “purified and enlightened,” come out of the door on the opposite side of the hall. At the same time, “jogamma” and “jogappa” look quite exotic - as a sign of piety, they never take care of their hair. There are practically no parishioners near the temple.
29. Imagine a wedding procession: at the altar there is a fifteen-year-old bride and five brother grooms, from six to twenty-six years old. Among the Tibetan Ning-ba tribe in northwestern Nepal, the land - the main local treasure - is inherited by a woman. By marrying one of their daughters to several men, the Ning-ba effectively hire labor and avoid the fragmentation of land. Others are destined for the fate of novices in the monastery.
Men share a woman among themselves very simply: the one who happens to spend the night in the matrimonial bedroom leaves his shoes at the entrance, thereby warning others that “the place is occupied.”
Flirting
30. An interesting concept was flirting in Tanzania. To lure a man, Tanzanian women steal his hoe and sandals. It’s just that these items are of particular value by local standards. The man will have to come for them, willy-nilly. And there already...
31. Another interesting custom that indirectly relates to the Aborigines of North-Eastern Australia before 1945 - they were engaged in... penis-sucking. Every stranger, coming to a local village, had to give his penis to the inhabitants of the village of the stronger sex...
32. But during the Renaissance, sex became more open and acquired new rituals. So, for example, during a wedding, one of the guests climbed under the skirt of a girl sitting at the table and stole her garter (note that underwear was not worn then). The girl had to pretend that nothing was happening, and then the groom bought the bandage.
33. On the occasion of Worso, an annual festival marking the end of the rainy season and the awakening of nature, young men from the Bororo tribe in Niger carefully paint and dress up. Make-up is an important part of the ceremony, which can last six days and six nights. A thick layer of ocher is applied to the face, and then rubbed with fat for shine. During the holiday itself, young men with massive masks (sometimes the layer of makeup reaches 3-5 cm) on their faces participate in a beauty contest, the jury of which consists of the 10 most beautiful girls of the tribe. Moreover, they must be completely naked, and the dancers’ faces must be painted identically, so that their masterly mastery of the art of makeup does not interfere with the girls’ impartial assessment of male virtues. The eerie smile frozen on their faces is needed to show the whiteness of their teeth, and their bulging eyes are needed to show off the brightness of the whites. The one who wins can choose any number of girls and be with them for the next month. Those remaining on the panel of judges are divided among the closest rivals of the lucky winner. Another 4-5 guys get the right to go with one of the young beauties to the nearest forest and become a real man. Well, the rest will wait until next year.
34. Among the Nuba people, from Sudan, the main day of the year is considered the “holiday of choosing husbands.” At sunrise, the potential newlyweds begin their love dances and dance until all the brides choose one of their fellow tribesmen. Moreover, when a woman places her hand on her chosen one’s shoulder as a sign of her affection, he does not even dare to raise his eyes to his future wife. Perhaps because the bride, while decorating herself the night before, slightly overdid it with ritual wounds and incisions. However, future family life is by no means a decided fact. Even after public erotic games, the future of the marriage remains a big question. Even if the young warrior managed to please the beauty, until he builds a house for her, he will live among the cattle and will be able to visit his beloved only at night, secretly sneaking into the house of future relatives.
Sexy accessories
35. On the island of Sumatra, men of the Batta tribe inserted small sharp pieces of metal or pebbles under the foreskin, believing that this would give their partner special pleasure. In this case, the “decorations” injured both partners.
36. Argentine Araucan Indians loved to attach a tassel made of horsehair to the male penis, and sometimes the woven jewelry reached 1.5-2 meters in length, and then they were elegantly tied around the neck.
37. The Indians of the Brazilian Topinamba tribe believed that the main thing was size. In their opinion, a woman can only like reproductive organ big size. Therefore, they not only lengthened the penis with all possible ways, but also tried to substitute their male organ poisonous snakes, spiders and other insects to bite, and then bandaged in an attempt to contain the swelling.
38. The Indians turned out to be even more inventive! Indian treatises prescribed the use of intimate piercings for men made of gold, silver, iron, wood or buffalo horns to enhance sensitivity. After these tortures, the phallus became literally impaled on a rod and pierced in several places. A slightly more humane device was the “yalaka” - a hollow tube with a surface covered with knobs. Compared to it, modern condoms with pimples are nonsense. But the main difference between this accessory and a condom is that sometimes it remained in an intimate place forever. In some cases, by accident, and a little later, on purpose.
39. But on the island of Bali, women tried to decorate themselves. They inserted various small items- rings, stones, nuts. On the one hand, this, in their opinion, helped fertility, on the other hand, they managed to bring more pleasure to men.
40. Interesting sexual traditions still exist in Japan. For example, at fertility festivals, men wear costumes that include huge penises made from papier-mâché. Calm at normal times, they have fun and run screaming through the streets after women.
41. In Japan, not only male genitals are celebrated, but also female ones - at the so-called “vagina festival”. Then there is a parade during which a huge model of a vagina is shown. It is carried along the street and sometimes opened. Then the girl sits inside and throws away the rice cakes that people catch on the streets.
42. Well, every five years in this country there is a special ceremony during which images of both male and female genital organs are shown. It takes place in Inuyama. The phallic deities are brought here from the Temple in Taga, and the image of the female vagina is brought from Ogata. During these phallic festivals, the sexual act itself may be demonstrated. For example, in Chibi, near Tokyo, a huge wooden phallus is inserted into a giant female vulva made of straw. For greater clarity, spectators pour strong, milky sake called “frill” over the image of the female genital organ.
Other
43. To avoid getting pregnant out of wedlock, the Slavs used very unusual positions. For example, sex was very common while standing, or when a girl was held in her arms. Another method, the “rider” pose, which is still popular today, was also intended specifically to reduce the risk of getting knocked up. Another option - sex in water - was also considered a purely Slavic option and, in addition to hygiene, in the opinion of our ancestors, contributed to a decrease in the birth rate. Later, the authorities and the church introduced a ban on the “standing” and “riding” positions - it is difficult to get pregnant with it, which means it is “not for childbearing, but only for the sake of weakness,” that is, for pleasure. Those who performed sexual acts in water were declared sorcerers and witches. The norms of Christianity dictated only one position for a woman during sex - face to face, lying motionless from below. Kissing was prohibited. Back then, a “good wife” was considered an asexual wife who had an aversion to sex.
45. In Colombia, in the city of Cali, a woman can only have sex with her husband, and when this happens for the first time, the bride's mother must be nearby to witness what happened.
46. In Guam, a virgin is prohibited from getting married. That's why there is a special profession there - deflorator. Such a specialist travels around the country and, for a fee, provides girls with the service of deflowering.
47. In Libya, men are officially allowed to have sex with animals. However, there is an important limitation: the animals must be female. Relationships with male animals are punishable by death. In general, in most countries of the Middle East one of the fundamental laws of Islam is still in effect: under no circumstances should you eat the sheep with which you had sexual intercourse. A person who decides to eat such a sheep commits a mortal sin and will never go to heaven.
48. In some African tribes there is a custom: before getting married, the chosen one must prove his perseverance to the parents of his bride. The groom comes to his father, who examines him, feels his muscles, looks into his mouth. After which the sentence is heard: “17 times.” That’s how many times a guy will satisfy the bride’s mother! Moreover, the number can go far beyond a hundred, and the guy will be forced to do this almost continuously! Some cannot stand it and run away, and whoever passes the test will become a husband and will be respected by the entire tribe. This is such a difficult test.
49. The tribes of North-West Africa hold a monthly sex lottery. Each man draws lots with which woman he will spend the night. All women present throw their erotic talismans into the basket. The man who pulls out the woman’s talisman will be her sexy gentleman at this celebration of love. Joy and happiness illuminate those men who got the most beautiful and sexy women. Instantly they drag their prey into the surrounding bushes and disappear there until the morning. And those who had to spend the night with ugly women are upset. But that's the custom. If you refuse your lot, you will be forever barred from further participation in such competitions. But how happy the old women are! They drag healthy and strong men behind their huts like stubborn donkeys: And you can’t escape your fate anywhere - after all, it’s a lottery!
50. The African pygmies practice the following custom: the bride is taken to the groom’s house, after which she runs away from there and tries to hide in the forest. Friends of the future spouse find her, take her to the house of the chosen one’s mother and have sex with her for five days! But that's not all. For three days, all the men of the tribe who wandered into the house of the groom’s mother can make love with the girl, and only after that she remains forever with her husband. I wonder what condition...
Everyone is accustomed to considering a wedding the brightest and kindest holiday, but there are also peoples for whom this is a difficult test or, at least, not the happiest event in life. It's all to blame - creepy wedding traditions.
Each culture has its own traditions that need to be respected, but some of them still cause surprise or even a slight shudder.
There are such terrible wedding rituals that after them, even vulgar tasks or a toastmaster offering inappropriate competitions seem not so terrible.
The essence of customs
Every nation has its own holidays, but weddings are invariably present in any culture. Since this is one of the fundamental moments of life, it is intertwined with many traditions. Often, even within the same country, such customs differ depending on the area, if initially people lived in solitude in it.
Previously, a person knew exactly what he should or should not do and say during a wedding. Each wedding followed the same scenario, and the bride and groom unconditionally followed the instructions of folk wisdom. Gradually, adherence to traditions came to naught, and then they began to be forgotten and modified.
Young people adhere to certain traditions because this is how they pay a kind of tribute to their ancestors. In other cases, such customs are needed to emphasize the special atmosphere at a stylized wedding.
The most terrible examples of rites and rituals
There are romantic and tender wedding customs, which for the most part. Nowadays, most couples strive to organize their wedding in the Western style, since such a celebration looks reverent and elegant. In contrast to such traditions, some peoples or individual tribes offer their own vision of an ideal wedding. It is radically different from the European one, and not for the better.
Just a wide bone
Some African countries, in particular Mauritania, Mali, Cameroon and Nigeria, have their own beauty standards. Local tribes believe that the fatter a woman is, the more beautiful she is, and the more children she can bear. It is extremely difficult for a thin girl to get married, since her ideal figure by European standards causes mistrust and even disgust among the natives.
From the age of 9-12, girls begin to be intensively fattened. They are sent to a special community, where they must eat at least 2 kg of porridge daily and drink at least 20 liters of camel milk, which is an inexhaustible source of protein and fatty acids. When a girl reaches such a size that she can already be considered beautiful, and she is called to marry, then in the last month before the wedding they begin to feed her even more furiously. Combined with a sedentary lifestyle, this tradition makes you forget about good health.
Stone face
For most people, a wedding is a long-awaited event, and on this day many simply cannot hide their emotions and literally glow with happiness. The rules are different in the Congo. Local residents believe that the bride and groom should not smile during the wedding, otherwise their marriage will be unhappy and short-lived. Even a slight trembling of the corner of the lips can be regarded as a violation of this tradition. Guests also try not to smile, so as not to encourage the newlyweds to do so. And so the wedding goes on – quietly, mournfully, tensely.
Bream to this gentleman
In Korea, there is a tradition that is not exactly creepy, but certainly strange. After the official wedding ceremony, the groom's friends catch him, take off his shoes and socks, tie his feet with rope and begin to diligently whip them with fish to prepare him for the hardships of married life. It is not entirely clear how the harmless fish is connected to married life, but the tradition is still observed by some people today.
Face to the floor
In Mauritius, after the end of the holiday, the bride's relatives, in their formal attire, lie face down on the floor, after which the newlyweds walk along their backs without taking off their shoes. It is difficult to say what people with a bad spine should do in this case, and how people generally feel in the place of the carpet, but in Mauritius such a ritual is considered a sign of family unity and complete trust.
Inhuman love
Some states in India have truly creepy wedding traditions that are hard to get around. For example, if a girl is born with a baby tooth in her upper gum, then her first husband will die soon. In some states, men can marry any number of times except three - one, two and four are allowed. There are also customs according to which younger son in the family cannot marry before the eldest.
From all these situations, enterprising Indians found one way out - a wedding with a tree. The girl or boy “signs” the chosen tree, and after the ceremony it is ritually destroyed. It turns out that the first husband of a girl born with a baby tooth has already died, the man can marry for the fourth time, bypassing the third, and the youngest son in the family has no problem getting married, since his brother was already in a relationship, albeit with a tree.
Wedding planner
Now the presence of certain customs at weddings is more of a formality than strict observance of a long-standing ritual.
Elena Sokolova
Ethnographer
Animal marriage is also common in India. This is not done to circumvent laws and omens, but to attract good luck. Marital duties, of course, are not fulfilled.
Savvely Malikov
Afterlife love
There are creepy wedding rituals in China too. For example, if a man or woman died unmarried, they are buried in the same grave with the deceased of the opposite sex. It is believed that at least in the afterlife such a person will have a family, and such a ritual is called Minhun. Because of this tradition, the Chinese authorities suffer a lot of problems, because someone begins to buy or even kidnap dead bodies for their deceased relatives.
Jump into the abyss
In fairy tales, the handsome prince has to perform tricky tasks or to show that he is worthy of her hand and heart. In Andalusia, a man faces a more difficult task - jumping from a cliff, upside down. The only good thing is that you have to jump into the sea. The more impression the young man wants to make on his future relatives, the higher the rock gets.
Other scary customs
In other countries, and even European ones, there are no less strange and sometimes terrible wedding traditions. Among them are the following.
- In the Bahutu tribe of Rwanda, there is a custom according to which, after the wedding, the bride must beat her husband every night for a week, after which he is sent back to his parents. Only if the young man passes such a test will the first wedding night take place.
- On the island of Bali, the bride and groom had their fangs filed to protect the newlyweds from bad thoughts and animal instincts. This was done without pain relief.
- In France, some newlyweds spend their wedding night listening to the terrible noise created by their relatives under the windows. Of course, the neighbors also suffer from this.
- In Scotland, a few days before the wedding, the bride is literally thrown with mud. This is done to bring happiness and prosperity into the girl’s married life.
- The Tujia people living in China believe that a girl’s life will be happy if she cries for 10 days before the wedding, then her mother joins her for another 10 days, and the rest of her relatives join her for another 10 days. A month in tears before the wedding promises their absence from family life.
Summary
Even the most terrible wedding traditions are designed to help the newlyweds and bring prosperity and happiness to their family. Most of these customs are no longer observed and are hardly seen. For the most part, they are important only as a historical and cultural value of the people.
5 minutes to read. Published 08/02/2019
Each nation has its own culture and customs that have been formed over more than one century. Some of the rituals appeared before our era. And there are also those that arose quite recently, just a couple of decades ago. But, older rituals have value, as they have historical significance.
Although most rituals have a logical explanation and are harmless, not all are. There are also rituals that make the blood in the veins of an unprepared eyewitness run cold. It is precisely the five most terrible rituals and rituals that exist in the modern world that will be discussed.
“Female circumcision” is not a pleasant or fun ritual. The motive for this procedure is no less strange. Circumcision of the foreskin supposedly restores purity and virginity. After undergoing this procedure, even a woman who has given birth many times can become a virgin again. Muslim women and other adherents of biblical fanaticism love to practice this.
After all, it’s convenient, you can sleep as much as you like with everyone, but when you get married, you can say that nothing happened before. Many mothers from Muslim countries perform such operations on their young daughters, supposedly for the benefit. The essence of the operation is that part of the girl’s uterus is cut off.
And as a result, the vaginal walls become very tight, like those of an innocent girl. According to unofficial data, such operations are practiced in more than thirty countries (among them the most successful in the world), but this is not always permitted by law. In most cases, this ritual is carried out secretly, and not in the hospital, of course.
The next creepy custom comes from China. The fashion for “small women’s feet” arose in ancient China and continues to be so to this day. In order for an adult woman to have child size feet, they began to prepare her for this as a child. For desired effect, the girl’s legs were wrapped in a special way.
As a result, the feet could not grow as needed and began to become deformed. When the growth process ended, the girl was left with childish legs, with feet unusual shape. That's why Chinese women with small feet usually have this strange mincing gait.
This is due to the fact that due to the deformation of the feet, it is difficult for them to maintain balance. Because, in essence, they walk on their stumps. Who exactly came up with such a perversion is not known for certain. It is also not known why parents punish their little daughters this way by agreeing to bandage their legs.
Initiation into men
The top three is completed by a ritual associated with boys. This is the “initiation of boys into men”, which takes place twice a year in Denmark, until now. Every year in the spring and fall, friends and relatives of the subjects gather in the Fire Islands.
And the candidates for becoming adults, armed with all possible piercing and cutting objects, go into the water. There, they drive dolphins into the bay, which are defenseless in front of them. And they begin to kill them mercilessly.
The ritual ends when the water along the entire coast turns red. This indicates that the test is complete. The boy who couldn't stand it until the end remains a child until the next time. Fortunately, after the initiation is completed, all the corpses of the killed animals are collected so that they can be eaten later. Since dolphin meat is the main food of local residents.
Urs Ajmer Festival
A strange festival called “Urs Ajmer” takes place every year in Southeast and South Asia. This action is a commemoration of one local saint of the 12th century, Moinuddin Chishti. Thousands of pilgrims from all districts come to one place to celebrate.
Then they all march through the streets and stage scenes of self-flagellation. During demonstrations, people stab themselves with knives, gouge out their eyes, cut out their tongues, etc.
What they want to tell the world with this is unclear. After each such gathering for a celebration, a lot of corpses and cripples appear in the town.
And the first place in the ranking is occupied by a wonderful ritual, which is difficult to believe without seeing it with your own eyes. Regardless of whether one believes in black magic, it continues to be used successfully in the modern world. For example, in Indonesia there is one tribe that lives in the southern part of Sulawesi, which uses the help of otherworldly forces for their “burial ritual for the dead.”
This is very old custom, the first written mentions of it date back to 1905. In this tribe there is a sorcerer who performs this ritual when one of the villagers dies. The thing is that the cemetery is located high in the mountains. The path there is very difficult and takes a couple of hours one way. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to carry a corpse there. In order to make the task easier, the sorcerer revives the deceased for several hours using black magic. And the dead man himself goes to the cemetery and lies down in the grave.
Upon arrival at the destination, the corpse falls asleep again and no longer comes to life. But, while climbing to the cemetery, you cannot touch the deceased or talk to him, otherwise he will immediately fall dead in the same place. The sorcerer always walks behind the dead man and controls the situation. When the dead man takes his place, his funeral is celebrated very cheerfully and on a grand scale. For these people, funerals are not considered a disaster.
The clock showed 68 hours 83 minutes along the Tula meridian. Then their scoreboard went completely dark. “The batteries are dead,” he thought. “Lithium ones, designed to last for years, delivered just yesterday... It’s kind of a crazy time... of course, in the Zone something like that doesn’t happen. But just a few kilometers from Tula?” The air around him thickened, it was felt almost physically, you could touch it. A collapse of sensations and feelings began in his chest, inexpressible by any concepts or words, at least he did not know them. A feeling of danger came over him, his thoughts raced frantically, escaping the reins of his will. He looked at the moon. She was covered in some bloody streaks. The trees seemed to move in a strange, slow dance. Thoughts intertwined into one fiery ball. He grew inexorably, his head was cramped, his brain was boiling. It was no longer possible to cope with despair. I had to run. But there was nowhere to run. Dry wood crackling could be heard from all sides. A huge herd of horses was breaking through the forest wall towards him. “Where are the horses here?” - was finally highlighted in the fading consciousness...
This is not an excerpt from a fantasy story. This is a fragment from the memoirs of the commander of a group of reconnaissance of anomalous zones, Alexey TARABRINA. They call themselves stalkers...
Tarabrin puzzled us right away. As soon as he crossed the threshold of the club, he said, somewhat embarrassed:
— I hope I didn’t bring a “tail.” It seems like everything was provided for...
We looked at each other and expressively pleased, but intuitively still looked over his shoulder. Of course, there was no one there. The "tail" was missing. Catching our gaze, Tarabrin explained:
- These “tails” are invisible. Sometimes it’s just, “drumming” in folklore...
Here we already smiled. The smiles turned out to be polite and condescending, which actually didn’t suit us as hosts. He wasn't offended. He continued. Like, “drumming” is nothing. Now, if you bring a “glass” or, even worse, an “Arizona” with you from the zone, then things are already bad. He came to our club straight from the zone, however, there is a “sleeping” one nearby here, in the Moscow region. They, stalkers, were working on an urgent call, looking for two lost boys. In short, everything is fine.
There was no time for smiling. “Alexey,” we said, “there are questions...”
“I may have answers to them,” said Alexey.
This is how our conversation began.
- So, what is “glass”, “Arizona”? These are the most dangerous, difficult-to-treat diseases of stalkers, which they can take out of the zone; in those who grab the “glass,” calcium synthesis is disrupted, the bones become brittle and brittle. I learned how to treat her. “Arizona” is not yet treatable
— The name is somehow connected with the state of Arizona in America?
— There is an anomalous zone in the area of the Arizona crater; those who become ill with Arizona fever rise to 39-40 degrees.
- Which of us has not had a fever...
— Skepticism does not leave you. It's a pity. You see, this temperature cannot be brought down. No means, no drugs. She begins to hold on constantly. But from our, domestic, zones, it seems, no one endured such a disease. But in the Urals, “Uralochka” is often found... symptoms: severe headaches, persistent hallucinations.
— All your diseases have affectionately lyrical names...
- This depends on our attitude to the zones.
“You have to understand, good, although they, as we understand, exude danger.”
— The zone doesn’t like rude people. But the zones are different.
— Is there even a classification?
- Well, there is no one official one, as they say. There's a lot of confusion here. Let's say there are environmental disaster zones and... I think it would be wrong to put them on the same page. Yes, in spaces disfigured by man and turned into landfills, very miraculous phenomena also often happen. Yes, only secrets, no special mysteries there. The reasons are clear, the results are visible. Or here are the anomalous zones in the areas of “hot spots”. Have you noticed that natural disasters, hurricanes, tornadoes, and landslides always happen there? Earthquakes, finally. There is an argument that it is not without reason. Our hatred, intolerance, anger have, let’s say, an energetic form. And these power flows affect not only people, they also have a destructive effect on the world, nature.
— There is another opinion, perhaps involving mysticism. Nature simply pronounces its verdict on people for their follies.
“We prefer to work in those zones whose origin is unclear, mysterious, not explained by science, where phenomena are mysterious and unpredictable. But we also visit disaster areas. We worked in Armenia in Spitak after the earthquake. Shoulder to shoulder, side by side with our professional rescuers? foreigners surprised them with their ability to navigate the terrain, in the rubble, and with strong nerves. This confirmed that our method of training the inner “navigator”, the psyche, is effective. We train in the catacombs. We are leaving for Crimea. In the Moscow region, in the limestone catacombs.
— How many zones do you have, Alexey? Passed, mastered?
— Over the 15 years of my life as a stalker, I have become acquainted with everyone who is more or less known in our country. I opened several of my own.
— Do we have many such zones?
- A lot of. In Kamchatka. On the Karelian Isthmus, near the city of Apatity. In the Kalinin forests, in the forests around the city of Murom - the “terrible Murom forests” are not an invention of poets. In the Caucasus. On the Aral Sea. In Siberia. First of all, in the area where the Tunguska meteorite fell...
— Alexey, can you give more specific coordinates of these zones? Many readers will probably be interested in your stories.
— There are exact coordinates. But imagine, we will give them now. Thrill seekers will rush to the zones. Without proper training, without guides. And staying in the zone is a risk. You can leave the Tunguska zone with a stomach ulcer or cancer. No, such issues must be resolved strictly individually.
- Well, what if a person, without knowing it, accidentally ended up in the zone? How will he guess, understand that it is she?
— If the zone is not “sleeping” and is aggressive, then it will immediately feel something is wrong. Typical symptoms: headache, consciousness floats, malfunctions in the vestibular apparatus. Orientation is disrupted, the person begins to rush around in panic within a certain area. People call this “the devil leads.” Hearing is blocked. Or, on the contrary, completely unimaginable sounds are heard. Blocked vision.
In the Urals, in one of the zones there is a so-called fog barrier. Those who cross it seem to lose touch with the outside world. Sounds fade, he can’t reach him, he sees at a limited distance. But those who remained in front of the barrier see and hear it. And while in the zone, a person begins to panic. Devices break...
- Well, how can you survive in the zone?
“We, stalkers, have developed defensive techniques and have our own rules. For example, never turn your back or left side to the source of danger - you need to protect your heart. Don't run from the zone. Leave calmly, without looking back, especially over your left shoulder.
- And why do you have to do this?
- I don’t know the exact answer. We reached this point through experience. Or according to the prompts of Russian fairy tales, epics, legends, folk beliefs. Remember, the heroes there, in order not to die, must not look back when they escape from some trap set by evil forces. As they say, a fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it, good fellows lesson. And you physically feel the panic in the zone. Rolls in an elastic, dense wave. We have our own protective posture against such a “wave”. You need to lie on your left side, tuck your knees towards your chest - the “fetal position”, we call it. We let the “waves” of panic pass over us – “running in” with panic, in our stalker slang.
- Alexey, do you still have compelling arguments that prove that anomalous zones exist, the phenomena you described happen there? Otherwise they will say that you just have a rich imagination...
- You are being delicate. They will say differently. Sick imagination. All arguments are in the zone. There is a moment of truth. And we are ready to be guides for those who doubt.
— Do you guarantee safety?
“We guarantee to do everything to ensure that nothing irreparable happens.” And until recently it didn’t happen. We took scientists, psychics, cryptozoologists to the zone - those who are looking for Bigfoot, and even priests.
- You are people of risk. As far as we understand, in addition to a strong will and a reliable psyche, you also need certain physical conditions.
— Of course, I do hand-to-hand combat, speleology...
And we are ordinary people. In our team we have workers, agronomists, and engineers. They became stalkers out of curiosity. But for most of them, their hobby has become a calling.
— And a question we couldn’t help but ask. Do you have any concept of the origin of anomalous zones?
We are practitioners. We do not develop scientific theories. So it’s not yours. But from the existing ones we like, for example, this one: anomalous zones are peculiar acupuncture points on the body of the earth, by analogy with the human body - points for acupuncture. The energy flows of the earth seem to close to these points.
— And there is also a rather interesting theory about the existence of parallel worlds, mutually insensitive, but having common points of contact. At these points contacts with unpredictable consequences arise from time to time, at least for us...
- No less interesting is this: we are the object of some colossal space experiment, the initiators of which are invisible to us.
— This theory actually chills the brain, because then it turns out that our freedom is nothing more than an illusion.
- It becomes completely uneasy if you also agree with the statement of Odos Huxley that in our brain there are some kind of “stubs” that do not allow information to penetrate there that we are not supposed to know, and only if for some reason the “stubs” “do not work, this information about things and phenomena unfamiliar to us breaks through, becomes available to individual lucky people, chosen ones of fate, so to speak... We call them talents, geniuses...
— Our wonderful poet Nikolai Gumilyov has a much clearer account of this:
...So century after century - how soon, Lord?
Under the scalpel of nature and art
Our spirit screams, our flesh faints,
Giving birth to an organ for the sixth sense.
Talents and geniuses have this “sixth” sense, it is developed, the poet believes.
- Wonderful lines. And I, you know, just remembered Andrei Tarkovsky. His film “Stalker” literally shocked me and my friends. I don’t know whether he himself was in the anomalous zone or not; the sensations that arise there are conveyed with stunning accuracy. How did he “feel” it? The Strugatskys’ “Roadside Picnic” itself is inferior to the film in this regard. By the way, according to their version, the anomalous zones are the work of other civilizations. We landed, rested, followed up...
— Goethe at one time “felt” the terrible earthquake in Messina. The scientists did not even assume anything, but he said to his servant: “It was revealed to me. There will be no Messina. I see it…"
— We can talk here endlessly. But aren't readers tired?
“We’ll end the conversation with a request.” We've heard about your survival lessons that you conduct for people in dangerous, risky professions...
— For readers of “Red Star”, for members of the “World Guy” club, for military people, I undoubtedly have time. I myself left the military ranks for the reserve quite a long time ago, served in the air defense, but remained a soldier. Every stalker is always a soldier.
