Weird Body Piercing for the Love of Gods

In late September and early October in Thailand held an unusual vegetarian festival. I order to Nine Emperor Gods give them good health and peace of mind, these people during the festival, which lasts 9 days, must comply with many rules. These days they do not eat meat, drink alcohol, have sex or wear white clothes, and must maintain body hygiene and kitchen accessories… What’s really spectacular is sticking various objects through the face: knives, sabers, saw, glasses, spears… Every drop of blood, and every scar is a gift for purifying the soul. This expression of devotion and love to the gods during the ceremony is often a very creepy and bizarre, but always spectacular.

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Most Craziest Job : Cleaner Stand out on the narrow ledge and holding the frame on 34th floor of a tower Cleaning window on Jumeirah Beach, Dubai

When he spotted a mark on his apartment window, this chap just had to pop out to give the glass a quick wipe with a squeegee.

Nothing odd about that – except that he lives 400ft up on the 34th floor of a tower block in Jumeirah Beach, Dubai.

He stepped out on to the narrow ledge and, holding the frame, stretched across to wipe away the annoying smudge.



Hell for leather: A window cleaner, circled, takes his life into his own hands on the 34th floor of a Jumeirah Beach apartment block

As he takes his life into his hands, at least he has the sense to hold on to the window frame, even if it is by his fingertips, as he goes about his task.

He was snapped making sure the windows were sparkling by a resident in a neighbouring apartment block.

A resident of a neighbouring block who took these pictures said: ‘The professional cleaners have safety harnesses and cradles and helmets. He had nothing.’

When it comes to safety among its massive immigrant workforce, the Dubai authorities have a dubious record.

Conditions in which immigrants are expected to work has been a subject of discussion in the United Arab Emirates for many years.

Yet the majority of these employees have no voice, especially when it comes to their own safety. They are also aware that, if they are deported, there are thousands of others willing to take their place.

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Stange Body Modification and Body Piercings From Around the World

People get piercings for every reason, from tradition all the way to rebellion. Different kinds of piercings can be found all around the world, but one thing that we can be sure of is that piercings from some countries are unique and very bizarre.

The woman shown above is Brazilian lady Elaine Davidson, who currently holds the world record for being the most pierced woman in the world. She has 720 piercings and counting. She currently lives in Scotland

Rather than getting piercings that excel in quantity, sometimes the bizarre factor is accentuated in quality. The Vegetarian Festival in Phuket, Thailand involves the extreme piercing of Ma Song or religious devotees to the festivals, who stick everything from swords to bikes in their cheeks. They do this so they can shift evil from the community onto themselves.


Luis Aguero from Havana, Cuba was previously the most pierced man in the world. He has 230 piercings, and 175 are on his face alone!


In Africa, earlobe stretching is a custom within the Maasai tribe, located in Kenya and Northern Tanzania. This kind of stretching is more common amongst the women than the men of the tribe. They often use stones, thorns, and twigs to create these piercings, and to begin the stretching.


In northwest India, the Meghwal women show their status with their nose piercings. Married women often wear gold nose rings, and the size of the nose ring shows their status in society. The bigger the nose ring is, the more important they are in their society.

In the United States, piercings are mostly used for simply aesthetic purposes rather than for tradition or custom. The girl above has vertical labret piercings, and a nose piercing. As piercings are becoming more and more acceptable in society, and the professional environment, more and more Americans are getting piercings. Although it may look bizarre to some, to the people who choose this path, it is a way of life, and what they believe. To them piercings mean more than just holes in their bodies filled with metal - they symbolise tradition, decoration, and custom.

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Strange Festivals and Crazy Celebrations

Almost as good as "The Festival of the Freshwater Squid" (see here)

As one travels the globe and observes the variety of fairs, festivals, and frivolities, it becomes clear that: 1) the concepts of "weird, strange, bizarre" are really in the eyes of the beholder - and 2) that all humans, no matter where we live, are more than just a bit bonkers.


Making a big deal out of "throwing things"

Although human behavior doesn't vary much, the methods of public celebrations certainly do.

For some baffling reason, for instance, people like to throw things. And depending on the country, what they throw is likely to be different. In Binche, a small town in Belgium, the projectile of choice is a fruit. On Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday Binche the town is visited by masked figures called Gilles who – later on in the festivities – carry large baskets of oranges through the town. Many of these oranges are calmly, orderly, handed to residents as well as tourists. Others, though, are rather vigorously … well, thrown at wary residents and unfortunate tourists.
Another "Battle of the Oranges", in Ivrea, Italy:
Meanwhile, if you happen to be in Buñol, Spain, on the last Wednesday in August, you also might want to duck as the fruit thrown there – while not as hard or potentially damaging as an orange – can still sting a bit. What's fun about La Tomatina at Buñol isn't just the hurled tomatoes but that the town, which normally has a population around 10,000, swells to closer to 60,000 as folks from all over come to throw -- and get thrown at.




Other Splendid Festivities

Fortunately, not all festivals in the world include hurled objects. Some just have unique themes. Japan's Hōnen Matsuri is a fertility festival, uniquely celebrated in the city of Komaki. By unique we mean prodigious, tumescent, large, and … okay, enough with the jokes, especially since the object of the fertility being celebrated is that certain part of the male anatomy. A similar festival is also held in Kawasaki, called Kanamara Matsuri. See images here - warning, nsfw.

While nothing is thrown, and nothing terribly phallic is evident, there's a festival that absolutely has to be mentioned: an event featuring tremendous beauty that ends with ashes and smoke.

Around the middle of March, the city of Valencia, Spain, has a festival called Falles – a celebration of Saint Joseph. But long before the Falles, Valencia, the third largest city in Spain, begins to prepare: neighborhoods and a wide variety of organizations form groups called Casal Fallers who raise money for their own contributions to the festivities.

It's these contributions that make the event so incredible. Each group – working from a common theme selected for that year – creates a ninot, or puppet. Fashioned from paper, wax, Styrofoam, and a few other materials, ninots are whimsical, outrageous, profane, comical, political, and every one is incredibly beautiful.
The artisans of Valencia have had a very long time to perfect their craft, and it shows in each and every ninot (see a whole bunch here). Each figure and tableau is a hallucinatory mixture of a Renaissance masterpiece and a three-dimensional cartoon. Each one, too, is frequently a wildly executed satirical jab at everything from politics to tradition, from pop culture to the Falles celebrants themselves. Nothing is sacred, nothing is spared.


If you happen to be in Taihape, New Zealand, things will be flying through the air but none of them – at least as far as we know – have been thrown at anyone. Nevertheless, a festival where people try to throw a gumboot as far as possible could pose some risks to passersby and participants alike.
A landscape nearby is seemingly made to be explored in these gumboots (provided you can catch some free ones):
"Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" are words you might want to keep an ear open for if you're in Japan during Setsubun, and happen to see a member of your household holding a handful of roasted soybeans. Mamemaki is the term for it, and "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" ("Demons out! Luck in!") is what is traditionally said before the beans are thrown out the front door – or at another member of the family (maybe even at the house cat):

If you happen to be in India during Holi, the festival of color, you also might want to avoid wearing your best suit of clothes. As part of the celebration, a brightly dyed powder called abir is merrily thrown everywhere – and especially at each other.


Then come the fires, and then the ashes. Yes, you guessed correctly: each and every minot, every figure and tableau is lit – exploding into the night sky in a roaring conclusion called La Cremà. In the morning there is nothing but ashes, and the memory of the wonders of the falles.

Boryeong Mud Festival, South Korea:


One of the weirdest festivals of all time - El Colacho in Spain. On this occasion grown men are jumping over the new born babies. Yes, very carefully (mothers do not seem to protest). They do it to get rid of any unknown evil spirits that might hide in these babies:
Cheese Rolling, Cooper's Hill, Gloucestershire, England:
Chocolate Festival in Kiev, Ukraine (with a huge chocolate fountain on the left):
Prayer for rain during Varuna Yajna ritual, at Sankara Mattham, India:
Lorraine Mondial Air Balloons Festival in Chambley, France:
Gothic and Steampunk Festival in Leipzig, Germany (Wave-Gotik-Treffen, WGT):


A neat little dance at the Kasedori Festival (a fire-prevention festival) at Kaminoyama, Japan:

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