Rite Of Passage Compilation Captures Traditions From Around The World: Cow Jumping In Ethiopia, Anyone?
People all over the world signify different stages of life with celebrations. In America, for example, bachelor parties are thrown to signify a man's last hoorah before getting married. In other countries, rituals are performed for significant life events, such such as marriages, the birth of a new baby, or stepping into adulthood.
In a recent Buzzfeed video titled, "Becoming A Man In Different Cultures," we see some of the rituals that boys across the globe partake in before entering manhood. A few of the ceremonies include bar mitvahs, cow jumping, and placing your hands in a glove, filled with bullet ants.
A bar mitzvah is a Jewish ceremony in which a 13-year-old boy reads from the Jewish holy book, called the Torah, in front of a congregation. Upon completing this he becomes a man, the ceremony is oftentimes celebrated with a party.
Cow jumping is an ancient tradition of the Hamar people in Ethiopia. It involves young boys jumping over the backs of cows to make themselves eligible for marriage.
The Satere-Mawe Tribe of the Amazon uses bullet ants to induct boys into manhood. Young boys are given ceremonial gloves with the ants inside of them. They are expected to keep the gloves on for 20 minutes while the ants sting their hands — on a pain scale of one to four, these critters rank higher than four, according to the Daily Mail.
To see other manhood rituals from across the globe, check out the full BuzzFeed video below: