All men are created equal. All cultures? Not so much.
Here’s a prime example you didn’t ask for: dozens of people in Nicaragua took part this week in a centuries-old tradition of beating each other with dried bull penises. And the scene itself was about as dumb as you’d expect.
VIDEO: Whether to atone for their sins or for a taste of adrenalin, dozens of people in Nicaragua take part in the four-centuries-old religious tradition of whipping each other with dried bull penises. pic.twitter.com/X9eA8wVjPl
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) June 28, 2023
The event, thankfully only held once a year, is called the “Dance of the Chinegros,” and has taken place in the San Juan de Oriente parish for about 400 years. The…er…festival?...supposedly commemorates John the Baptist, and involves two participants standing in the street and whipping each other with cattle wangs that have basically been stretched, dried into beef jerky, and turned into a leather sword. The beating continues until one participant has had enough and raises the white flag.
Or, in this case, the dehydrated cow genitals. Which apparently are tough enough to carve up skin, if you hit somebody hard enough.
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What any of this has to do with John the Baptist, I surely couldn’t tell you. The event dates back to pre-colonial times before Christianity was brought to Central America, having deep roots in indigenous practices that were later modified to include Catholic overtones to appease European conquerors. But for whatever reason, the town’s inhabitants certainly think whipping each other with a bovine phallus is still worth doing – more than half of the parish’s 3,000 or so residents have reportedly taken part in the ritual in the course of their lifetimes, with some doing it every year.
Participants say the rite is often used as a sacrifice of sorts, including as a way to pay for requests. One man, for example, said his daughter was born with health issues, and that he now takes part in Chengros every year as part of the promise he made in return for her healing.
By beating one another with bull dicks - because volunteering for a charity or dropping a chunk of change in the offering plate is just too passé.
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