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the 2008 Lantern Festival in Taiwan

http://thedailybubbletea.com/2008/02/21/taipei-lantern-festival-2008/

Lantern Festival (Shang Yuan festival) is a chinese festival celebrated every 15th day of the 1st month in the lunar year in the Chinese calendar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lantern_Festival

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoalysxinh/

http://listverse.com/bizarre/top-10-bizarre-traditions/

1. FOOT BINDING 

 Chinese Foot Binding

2. SELF MUMMIFICATION

 Buddhist Mummies of Japan

3. EUNUCHS

 An Indian Eunuch

5. SATI

 A Hindu Funeral custom.

5. DUELING

duel is a  fight of 2 people with matched deadly weapon in accordance with rules agreed upon.

6. SEPPUKU

 Seppuku (Hara-Kiri) was a key part of bushido, the code of the samurai warriors; it was used by warriors to avoid falling into enemy hands, and to attenuate shame.

7. HUMAN SACRIFICE

 Human sacrifice is the act of killing a human being for the purposes of making an offering to a deity or other, normally supernatural, power. It was practiced in many ancient cultures.

8. CONCUBINAGE

 The photograph here shows a group of concubines standing behind their protectors (usually Eunuchs). Concubinage is the state of a woman or youth in an ongoing, quasi-matrimonial relationship with a man of higher social status.

9. GEISHA

 The word Geisha means "artist" in Japanese. Geisha are professional hostesses who entertain guests through various performing arts in tea houses called O-chaya. They are trained in a number of traditional skills such as Japanese ancient dance, singing, playing instruments such as the Shamisen, flower arrangement, wearing kimo no, tea ceremony, calligraphy, conversation, alcohol serving manners and more. Geisha continue to study and perfect these skills throughout their careers as geisha.

10. TIBETAN SKY BURIAL

 The sacred solemn funeral rite of Tibet. 

Sky burial or ritual dissection was once a common practice in Tibet. A human corpse is cut into small pieces and placed on a mountaintop, exposing it to the elements and animals – especially to birds of prey. In one account, the leading mok cut off the limbs and hacked the body to pieces, handing each part to his assistants, who used rocks to pound the flesh and bones together to a pulp, which they mixed with tsampa (barley flour with tea and yak butter or milk) before the vultures were summoned to eat. 

In several accounts, the flesh was stripped from the bones and given to vultures without further preparation; the bones then were broken up with sledgehammers, and usually mixed with tsampa before being given to the vultures. In another account, vultures were given the whole body. When only the bones remained, they were broken up with mallets, ground with tsampa, and given to crows and hawks that had waited until the vultures had departed.

*10 bizarre traditions

http://listverse.com/bizarre/top-10-bizarre-traditions/

In the month of August in Davao City, we celebrate the tradional KADAYAWAN Festival in thanksgiving for the bountiful harvest showcasing different tribes from Mindanao, "ethnic" tribes…and many more like the fruits in Davao (Durian, mangosteen, pomelo, lanzones and more….). And here are some photos i can share to u!

THE "Indak-indak sa Kadalanan" (street dancing)

You can also see other photos here… http://emptydbme.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!7FA8473C135ED59C!133/