The Strangest Marriage Ritual from All Around The World

Marriage is the most solemn pledge we make in our lifetimes. It is the greatest joy of human existence, the pure joy that flows from two hearts beating as one. Well... that's what people say. But frankly, My Dear, marriage is not as simple as pledging in front of our Priest and family, then riding a "Just Married" car, and taking your honeymoon in some Carribean Islands. In some places, marriage is a very complicated ritual that not easy to make. It takes sacrifice and big-heart to accept the ritual. And some people believe, by doing the ritual, your marriage will be last long, even longer.

There are several strangest marriage rituals from all around the world that I am collecting. I hope, by reading this article, you are not only amaze with other people's culture, but also feel so blessed to have your best soul mate by your side.

MIDDLE EAST : PARTY & PARTY ALL THE TIME

I think one of the most expensive but merrier marriage celebration is in Middle East. In many parts of Middle East, it is very common to have five different parties for the wedding ceremony. The first party will be The Engagement Party. The bride and groom invite family and friends to have a festive party, with lotta foods, dancing, singing, and happy music. It is an all night long party.

Then, the second party takes place in the day when the bride and groom go to the courthouse to sign their marriage contract. After that, family and friends are invited again to celebrate it. They party and dancing with happy music again.

The third party is taking place one day before the wedding. This party is called Hena, in which the bride and groom sit together while several unmarried girls hold a white cloth on their heads. One of the girl (called "The Grinding Girl") grinds together two lumbs of sugar above the couples' heads while asking God to repel all evil spirits from the young couple's life. In the party, the bride is wearing green dress. Hena Party usually ended at the dawn on the day of the wedding.

The fourth will be the main wedding reception party (fiuh... finally....!!!!). In this party, the bride and groom exchange wedding rings. Same as regular wedding party, this party have speeches from each member of the bride and the groom family, dancing, singing, and eating. Usually each guest is given 5 almond pieces, in which a symbol of five sacred wedding wishes (Health, Happiness, Wealth, Fertility, and Longevity).

Finish? Naaah.... there is another one. The final party takes place 7 days after the fourth party. It's called Sabaa, which means Seven. The Sabaa is held at the home of the bride's mother and only women attend. They bring the bride presents and in this opportunity, the bride's mother traditionally gives her daughter gold or diamonds.

So... if you have intention to have a wedding in Middle East's tradition, save your wallet and energy. You're gonna need it. Very much.....!!!

SCOTTISH : BLACKENING THE BRIDE

It is quiet a weirdest pre-wedding tradition I ever heard (hey... whose the one who came out with this idea at first place?). But it's true : Either the bride or the groom (sometimes both, depend on the particular family) is taken by surprise and covered with very smelly things (and substances), such as spoiled milk, eggs, sauces, ..... and other yucky stuffs....!!! After officially "blackened", then they paraded around the town for all to see. 

GERMANY :LOG SAWING

It is a German wedding tradition that test the bride and groom physical skills. After the couple are married, a log is positioned between two sawhorses and they must saw it in half working together. The meaning of this tradition is a sign of how they will handle things together once they are married.

INDIAN : STEALING THE GROOM'S SHOES
Sounds odd, but fun. During the ceremony, the groom has to remove his shoes prior to entering the alter to be married. Members of the bride's family are obligated to try to steal the groom shoes, meanwhile the groom's family must protect the shoes, and they will go to extreme measures in order to hide the shoes. If the bride's family is successful in stealing the groom's shoes, then the groom must pay whatever amount of money they request to get the shoes back. Hmm.... remind me with my childhood hide-and-chase's game. ^_^

AFRICAN :A NIGHTMARE ON THE 1ST NIGHT

Villagers people in Africa are expecting that every girls are still virgin before they are getting married. So in order to make sure that thing, in some certain villages, right after the wedding ceremony, an older woman will accompany the couple to their bedroom. Her presence is to direct the couple and explain what they should do. If  the new bride seems a little too experienced on her wedding night, the older woman can complain to the village and the marriage can be dismissed. Usually the older women are village elders, but sometimes also the bride's mother or even her mother-in-law.

ITALY : TALISMAN & SHATTERED VASE
In Italy, the groom is carrying a talisman (piece of iron) in his pocket during the wedding day. The talisman was believed to ward off misfortune. When wedding party is coming to an end, the newly married couple shatter a vase or glass into many pieces. The number of pieces represented the expected number of years they would be happily married. So if you want to "happily ever after", smash the vase into dust-pieces.

MEXICO : A GIFT OF 13 COINS

During the wedding day in Mexico, the groom bestows his bride a gift of 13 coins - called arras - which is representing Jesus and His 12 Apostles. The coins are to be blessed by the priest and bear the groom's promise to care for and provide for his wife.

CHINA : CRYING IN A WEDDING 

It's actually a very ancient ritual. I even hardly believe it's still exist now. But I read in some website, they mentioned this ritual still be done. Usually it is the bride and her female family members who did this ritual. The ritual is like this : One month before the wedding, a bride is starting her weep tradition and cries for an hour. Ten days later, her mother joins and cries together with the bride. Another ten days later, her grandmothers, sisters, and aunts contribute to the flood. They are not just crying, but there is some tones they must follow. This crying ritual is called "Crying Marriage Song", in which a celebration of happy times.

10 WACKIEST BANDS IN THE WORLD

Some bands - especially rock bands - are popular because of their music (you know Led Zeppelin with their memorable Stairway to Heaven, or Mettalica with their Enter the Sandman). But you also know that some others are popular just because of their acts on stage (well.... Greenday or Marylin Manson can be in the list....).

Apart from those two kinds of bands, there are some others that not only popular because of their music, but also their performance and what they wore on the stage. A little wacky, unusual, and totally did not support their music. But that's what make them stars. Well... let's see how wacky they really are:

1. KUBURAN BAND :

Kuburan Band

Literally, their band means "The Graveyard Band". They usually dressed up very scary : White face with a very scary make up and dress like vampires or zombies. You might thought they are heavy metal rock band (Well... Slipknot and Kiss also dress like that....). Wait till you hear their song.... you might be surprised that their song is much more a pop song than metal. Yep.... Kuburan Band is a very popular band from Indonesia. Founded in Bandung on September 11, 2001, they have been well-known in indie music community and oftenly contributed their performance in a lot of indie-music concert. Even they proclaimed themselves as THE 2ND MOST GOTHIC BAND IN THE WORLD, but in fact,their music is pop-rock with funny lyric. Their first commercial album was released in 2006 and it's called BOOMING ! BEE ARE THE KILL YOUNG PEN THINK GUN THANK (it's not actual English words, but Indonesia slank, which means "Even We Are Not Taking A Bath Yet, But We Still Handsome"), in which become a big hit. Their single "Lupa Lupa Ingat" (I Don't Remember) is a very phenomenal song a very popular during that time. This group is still exist and actively performing their acts.

2. PSYCHO LE CEMU :

Psycho Le Cemu

I don't think they are rock band, are you? Althought their wore anime outfits - and might be dress like a video game characters - But they really are. Known as Japanese visual rock band, Psycho (which formed in 1999) is one of the famous rock band. They always made different sets of costums for each of their performance. Their first album - Doppelganger - was released in September 2001 and become a hit. Their popularity is keep growing until May 2005, when Daishi - the lead singer of Psycho - was arrested due to the positivity of using methamphetamine while did urinalysis in Kanagawa. The band went into hiatus and all of the members are taking their own side projects, until 2009, when all members of the band reunite for the band's 10th Anniversary tour called 10th Anniversary - Legend of Sword.

3. PYRAMID BAND :

Piramid Band

Althought their outfit is Latino dress, but don't be surprise when you hear their song. The song and the outfits did not match at all. Pyramid Band (not to be confused with USA's band called Pyramid) is Indonesia pop-rock band. Founded in Palembang, South Sumatera, in 2008, Pyramid Band is a boy-band that usually played pop in Malay's tone, and become very famous in South Sumatera recently. One of their well-known performance is wearing Latino dress while performing on the stage.

4. THE CHANGCUTERS :

The Changcutters

Another bands from Indonesia that also have a weird performance is The Changcuters (literally means "men's underwear" in Sundanese - local dialect of West Java). Since their first performance in 2005 until today, they always dress-up like 60's rock and roll British Band. Same as what they wore, this band also performed Brit's garage rock and roll music, in which not a popular music genre in Indonesia that time. But later on, their music can be accepted by audiences in Indonesia. Until today, they already released 3 albums and still active do performances.

5.TRIO MACAN : 

Trio Macan

Trio Macan (Trio Tigress) actually is a trio-girl-singers from East Java, Indonesia who usually performing dangdut songs (one of Indonesia's music genre). They were formed since 2006 and become one of the most controversy dangdut group singers. Since their first appearance, people has critisizing their lack of singing capability. But somehow, they are gaining a lot of appreciation and awards, such as Best Dangdut Group in MTV Indonesia Awards  2006. Their trade mark is always wearing tiger stripe body-shape clothes, doing erotic & energic dances in every of their performance. Because of their hot jump, fast and raugh dances, sometimes one of their top cloth was accidently took off. Upps....

6. BOSS HOG:

Boss Hog

Nothing strange with this band actually. They are regular American punk blues rock band that offering a very loud and abrasive sound of their music (well... which rock band that did not play loud sound?). The only different thing is : their lead singer - Cristina Martinez - usually performed in confrontational full nudity. Yep, the band that formed in 1989, usually performed with such a controversy performance in their earlier show. They never did it anymore in the present, but... well.... who knows? ^_^

7. BLUE MAN GROUP :

Blue Man Project

Actually they are not spesifically music band, but a creative organization whose producing theatrical shows and concert, featuring music, comedy, and multimedia. They did some record of music and scores for film and television, such as Terminator 3 : The Rise of the Machines, Scrubs, The Tonight Show, Arrested Development, and Las Vegas. They never have same members in their band. However, they always performed in trio that appear to have blue skin, no voice, no hairs and ears. Most of their music is rock-oriented and experimental music. Mostly in their show, they perform percussion and any other "wacky" instruments (airpoles, drumbone, PVC Pipes and tubes).

8. GAY FOR JOHNNY DEPP :

Gay for Johnny Depp

Well.... seems like there are no any other band who obsessed to their idol as much as this band. This New Yorkers hardcore band is known for the lyrical content of their songs, which is often concerned with the band's homoerotic obssesion over the actor Johnny Depp. Well.... even their music is fine, but if I was Johnny Depp, then I prefer not to stay close to them.

9. THE B-52S :

The B-52S

Look at them : They wore very cheerful print shirt. They look pretty nice, clean, and smooth. You thought you are going to watch a performance of the reggae band (they look very much a like UB-40, the British reggae band). Don't get shock when they start to sing their song such as Private Idaho or Good Stuff. It's punk-pop-rock...!! It's true.... The B-52s is a pop-rock bands that established since 1976 in Athens, Georgia. Since their early year, they already performed rock and roll, then become much popular after worked in other genres such as post-punk, and dance new wave. One of their most-known song is the Theme Song of The Flintstones : Movie (1994).

10. SUPERNOVA :

Supernova

Ever imagine how spacemen performed their music in earth? Well... watch Supernova, a Costa Mesa - California pop punk band. Performed since 1989, Supernova has been known as a band that always dressing in silver jumpsuits and custom-made space helmets. Their song, Chewbacca, was featured in the smash hit indie movie Clerks.

The 12 World's Strangest Conventions and Events

You join a lot of seminars and conventions, and everything sounds normal. But wait.... how about strange and wacky conventions? Have you been there before? By the way, what kind of "strange" and "wacky" conditions that I meant? Here are several of them.Prepare to get your weird-on...!!!

1. WORLD TOILET SUMMIT & EXPO
Ok...you might be laught at it. But this convention is true and it happened. The first was happened in Suntec, Singapore in 2001 and since then it has travelled to various city around the world, including Beijing, India, Moscow, Taiwan, and Macau. The objectives of this convention are to bring sanitation and clean water to over 2 billion people around the world who still need it.


2. CELEBRITY IMPERSONATORS CONVENTION :
Wanna meet former President George W. Bush, shake hand with Barack Obama, mingle with Alicia Keys, wink at Sarah Palin, or even have some action with Jackie Chan and Jet Li? Come to the Celebrity Impersonators Convention which held in Las Vegas every year. In this convention, you also can see stage performance, seminar, and lead classes. So... what's you're wanna be?


3. INTERNATIONAL UFO CONGRESS CONVENTION :
Starting in 1991 in Laughlin,Nevada, this week-long event has been a annual conventions for all UFO lover. There are seminars, film festival, selling souvenirs, and others. Most topics covered are about adjuction, UFO sightings, paranormal experiences, and much more.

4. SCAREFEST HORROR AND PARANORMAL CONVENTION :
It is the biggest and largest paranormal convention that held in USA. Usually on November, in Lexington Center, Lexington, Kentucky. It hosted by Ghost Chasers International, Inc and was created by Jeff Waldridge, Patti and Chuck Starr. This year, the event will be held on November 5 - 7, 2010. It has movie preview in Kentucky Theatre, live concert at Buster's Billiards & Backroom, Bizarre Costume Ball, amd Boo & Brew Pub Walk. Oh yeah, don't forget to join ScareFest Pageant and judging the Beautiful Yet Gory Ladies of Horror and Mystique.

5. SEXPO :
It is Austalia's Expo about adult entertainment, sexuality, and lifestyles. The exhibition sells products related to sex and sexuality. It also have education about safe practices. There are other things in the exhibition you can find : aviation, wine tasting, marine sports, spa pools, hair and make up styling, and many more.

6. FUR CON :
Also known as Furry convention. It isa formal gathering of members of the furry fandom (people who are interested in the concept of fictional non-human characters with human characteristics). Starting in California during mid 1980s, there are now over 40 annual furry conventions worldwide. This conventions provide place for fans to meet, exchange idea, and engage in entertainment and recreation.


7. PURE SPECULATION FESTIVAL (PURE SPEC):
"By geeks,for geeks". Yeah.... you gotta see buch of geeks - or so called - in this celebration. This festival started since 2004 by a group that called themselves The Four Stooges, and offers programming dealing with science fiction, fantasy,pop culture, gaming, anime, comic books, and webcomics.

8. INK FESTS :
Also known as Tattoo Conventions. It's been held in Las Vegas, Houston, Austin, and Dallas each year. The body art celebrations are open to the public, but it's invitation only for artists.

9. HIGH TIMES CANNABIS CUP:
This conventions will make you high. Weed lovers gather in Amsterdam each November for this conventions. The five-day festival is dedicated for the marijuana lovers around the world as it's an opportunity not only endulge in their drug choice, but to try different strains which they can help judge.


10. TWINS DAY FESTIVAL :
It is the largest annual gathering of twins in the world. Held in Twinsburg, OH, more than 3,000 sets of siblings (twins, triplets, or quad) from all over the glove congregate in the festival to show off,meet up, and revel in their genetic synchronicity. The next festival will be held August 7 - 8, 2010. If you are twins, don't miss it...!!!


11. LEGO WORLD :
Are you a big fans of lego blocks? You should never miss this convention. Held in IJsselhallen Zwolle, Netherlands, thousands of Lego blocks' fans from all around the world gather to constructing some unbelieveable lego design. Last year we can see big-old Indiana Jones, Star Wars Death Star, and Eiffel Tower fully built in Lego Blocks. Interested?


12. WEIRD AL YANKOVIC FANS CONVENTION :
If you are the fans of StarWars, The Office, The Twillight Saga, The Simpsons, or Harry Potters, and you did the convention for it, then I can understand that. But convention for Al Yankovic? It's kind of weird enough for me if there is any people who would come to the convention to worship Al Yankovic. But... hell yeah... this convention really happened. Located in Chicago, IL, this convention provide some unique and weird exhibition, such as fan convention, bizzare festivals (yeah... like 24 Hour Marriage Marathon Festival, American Fancy Rat and Mouse Annual Show, Bangkok Vertical Marathon, Beef-A-Rama, Big Whooper Liar Contest, Combine Demolition Derby, Fire Ant Festival, and many more....), auction of unique Weird Al memorabillia, Weird Al Look-AL-Like Contest, Lip-Synching Contest, and many more.

Top 10 Weirdest Bra Designs

Bras are not things that girls use only to hold and form their breasts anymore. But recently, bras have new meaning and more useful for other uses. Here are some weirdest bra that being designed to help women in the world to do other things with their bra than just treat them as their underwear. Ready to be surprised?

1. THE CHOPSTICK BRA :

Created by Triumph International Japan. This bra is made in order to promote the use of reusable chopsticks. Wearing this bra, you have chance to save the planet in same time. Really?????








2.SOLAR-POWERED BRA :
Ever find difficulty when the battery of your mobile phone is down or your iPod have lost its power. Now, you can have solar-powered bra. Just plug your connector to the bra, and... walah.... your iPod and mobile can be turned on again....



3. HAND PALM BRA :
Feeling lonely and love to get warm and gently squeeze from a man you love? Try hand palm bra. It's soft, handy, and lovely. Make you feel like a woman again.

4. BACON BRA :

Feeling hungry and have nothing left to eat? Try bacon bra. It made from 100% true bacon meat and can be eaten rawly. It's very useful for active women like you who love to travel a lot (especially travelling to deep forest or uncivilize area).





5. GOLDEN FISH BRA :
Love fish and enjoy taking them to walk with you? Try this Golden Fish Bra. It's simple, chill, and tickle. Very nice for sporty girl like you...

6. CANDY BRA :

Never leave home without candies. Candy consist of sweet and sugar that energize your day. It also good for your bad breath. Forget to bring one? Don't worry, you have plenty of them in your bra now.

7. MUSICAL BRA :

Even wondered what would your breasts sound like if they were a musical instrument? Now... you don't have to wonder anymore, because you can listen it by yourself to a pair of your breasts make beautiful and nice music. Introducing Musical Bra that turns the pair of brests into a musical instrument. All you need to do is wear it and listen to it. A very nice sound-therapy for active women....




8. WARMBIZ HEATED BRA :
Feeling chill and your warmer not work properly? Triump-Japan has introducing Warmbiz Heated Bra that keep you warm and comfy. It made from nice-comfy-looking faux fur with microwavable gel pads that can be slipped into the bra cups to provide warmth in chilly offices or location (very nice to wear it while in winter season).

9. BRA BAG :
Shopping.... shopping.... shopping.... won't you have a cozy and cute way to shop? Try Bra Bag. It's eco-friendly, and very handy to use. When you need to buy something, just take off your bra, fold it, and.... it turns into shopping bag. After do the shopping, take it out, and wore it again. No more trash. No more plastic bag.

10. MEN'S BRA:

Now... that's sound ridiculous. Why men need bra?Well... whoever could imagine that the image of the macho, hulky men would be reduced to such a funny figure with the imagery of him wearing a bra. So.... c'mon, Man. Show your inner feminine side. Wear bra......