Sad but true: we will never understand the people of Africa. Their life is very different from ours. Many Africans have never seen a plumbing, a supermarket, a computer or an electric light bulb, they are treated with witchcraft and hunt with a bow and arrow. Of course, with such differences between our cultures, it is difficult for us to accept the African lifestyle. Many of their habits and customs seem repulsive to us. Just look at these examples!
Bush Meat
"Bush meat" Africans call the meat of our closest relatives - primates - obtained from hunting. They are not embarrassed by the consumption of even prey primates - gorillas and chimpanzees. While the refined Western world thinks eating chimpanzees is almost cannibalism, the people of the Congo Basin calmly eat "bush meat" millions of tons a year, sincerely not seeing the difference between roast rabbit and apes. They are not even embarrassed by the claims of scientists that eating monkeys can catch HIV or the Ebola virus from them. But this does not stop lovers of "bush meat".
Plates in the lips
Be confused, informals sticking modest "carnations" in their lips! Don't complain about the pain of the injections, glamorous beauties! Compared to the African tradition of stretching lips with plates, a botox injection is no more than a mosquito bite! African women also consider large lips sexy, but achieve them with extreme measures - stretching them with special plates. The first plate, three centimeters in diameter, is inserted into the girl's lips as a child. And by the age of puberty, a 20-centimeter plate is already quietly inserted into the girl's lip, and this means that the girl is ripe!
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Dancing with the dead
The people of Madagascar are very fond of their dead. They love it so much that every 5-7 years large families of Malagasy gather together, dig up the relatives of the dead from the ground and arrange joint festivities - with dances, songs, cheerful music and tasty treats. In this festival called famadihana, the dead take an active part - of course, in the hands of living relatives. Famadikhana is satisfied if one of the family members dreams of the deceased, as well as at the moment when the family just wants to have fun. In the opinion of a European, this is a rather strange way to pay tribute to the memory of a deceased grandmother - especially considering that for the right to conduct a famadikhan, he will also have to pay a tax.
Mortal Kombat For The Bride
If two African guys are in love with the same girl, and neither wants to give up, they will have to fight for the bride to victory. The rules are simple: none of the opponents puts on any protection, and both fight for real, not sparing the opponent. The main thing is that the participant must not show that he is in pain: he must maintain an imperturbable expression on his face, even if blood is pouring down him. Whoever falls first, or at least crumples in pain, has lost. The winner takes his bride. The bride's opinion, as usual, interests no one.
The habit of spitting
The Maasai tribe living in Kenya and Tanzania believe in the miraculous power of saliva to ward off evil spirits. Therefore, when a Maasai has a baby, all members of a large family first of all spit on him heartily, believing that evil spirits will scatter in horror from the child covered in saliva. Moreover, when they meet, friends, before shaking hands, spit on their palms - again, so that evil forces do not break their friendship.
Accurate beetles
If the habits of the Maasai cannot be called hygienic, then African dung beetles, on the contrary, perform the role of guardians of hygiene, despite their unappetizing name. These beetles feed on manure, and they also feed their larvae with it, so, you yourself understand, they need a lot of manure. 16 thousand dung beetles completely destroy an impressive elephant dung heap in no more than two hours. Probably, it was through their efforts that the African savannas have not yet mired in elephant dung.
Aunt of the bride - the cement of the family
In the Ugandan Banyankol tribe, young people cannot get married without the active participation of the bride's aunt. First, this worthy lady is obliged to check if the bride is a virgin before the wedding. And secondly, the groom must necessarily sleep with her before the wedding in order to find out if he is courageous and tireless enough in bed to ensure the continuation of the family. So, we can say that the future of Banyankol youth depends on the aunts.
Hairy frog
In Africa, there are many unpleasant and frankly dangerous amphibians, but only this frog has earned the nickname "terrible frog" or "wolverine frog" among the locals. And these nicknames were given to her for a reason. Not only are her hind legs covered with hair, but she also has claws growing on her hind toes! From the sight of such a monster, you will really lose sleep!
Broth on the dead
The Chewa tribe in Malawi has an abhorrent tradition of funerals. After the death of the deceased, they are taken to a sacred place, where from his body, by cutting his throat, all the blood is drained and the insides removed. After this, the deceased is washed … and funeral meals are prepared in the same water. The meaning of the tradition is to protect the members of the tribe from the evil spirits of death, but it is unlikely that anyone who does not belong to the Chewa tribe would risk taking part in their funeral feast.
Fat is our wealth
Mauritanians have a strange belief. It is believed that the thicker a woman is, the richer her husband is. A man whose wife is curvaceous may be as poor as a church mouse - he will still be considered a rich man. Therefore, Mauritanians regularly send their daughters, aged 5 to 15, to "fat women camps", where they are fed, in such a strange way, preparing for the most successful marriage. One can imagine how the conversations of young Mauritanians about diets differ from the conversations of their European peers on the same topic!
The most terrible
The worst beast in Africa is neither a lion nor a leopard. It's a hippo! This monster weighing more than a ton has monstrous strength, boundless rage and disgusting character. In addition, unlike other animals, it does not experience an instinctive fear of man and can attack the king of nature without warning and even without special reason. By the way, the hippo can be called the most disgusting of African animals: he is almost the only one who can sleep, wash and shit almost on the spot, in the same cozy backwater, where he spends most of the day.
Delicacy beetle
These adorable bugs are called stink bugs, but they are better known as stink bugs. As the name suggests, their scent is unlikely to resemble your favorite perfume. Nevertheless, Africans love these bugs … or rather, they love to eat them! Moreover, not only fried, but also raw. Once upon a time, nutritionists approved this nutritional supplement for the people of hungry countries … and you know, a lot of people loved it! And not at all for those who do not have enough food. Simply, they say, delicious. Will you try?
Steal the bride
There is a strange tradition in Sudan. If a young man wants to marry a girl, he abducts her from the parental home. Only after that, one of the older men of the groom's family goes to the bride's father and asks for her hand in marriage. If the father agrees, he must wholeheartedly beat the matchmaker - after which a new family is considered created. Well, if the father does not agree, the groom's messenger can avoid the beaters - but the groom himself has the right to marry the girl without paternal consent. In this case, no one asks the bride's opinion again. Such is he, XXI century in Africa.
Cows as currency
In the Pokot tribe in Kenya, a person's wealth is measured solely by the number of cows. The owner of a luxury villa with a pool and a Lamborghini in the garage will be considered a beggar if he has no cows. In the Pokot tribe, a man has the right to take a second wife and even have a whole harem - but only if he can provide the bride's relatives with a sufficient number of cows. Of course, no one cuts horned currency for food - a live cow costs much more than a dead one.
African wild dogs
African wild dogs, like wolves or hyenas, are one of the most socially developed animals in the world. They live and hunt in large flocks, on average, 25 individuals each, and when hunting they clearly distribute responsibilities between the members of the flock, and act so harmoniously that there is almost always no salvation for the game. After eating, the hunters return to their families and, in order to feed the remaining relatives at home, they regurgitate for them part of the food they had eaten earlier. In times of famine, they have a harder time: there is little food, and sometimes dogs belch food for relatives several times. Not the most delicious way to feed!