Blood Weddings, Walrus Heads, and Sky Burials: Five Unsettling Indigenous Traditions in Russia
In Russia, 195 ethnic groups live side by side. Each has its own traditions, passed down since ancient times. Some customs, however, are enough to make your blood run cold. Hard as it is to believe, some of them aren’t legends from the distant past but are very much part of 21st-century Russian reality. Here’s a closer look at some of the most vivid (and unsettling) traditions of the indigenous peoples from different corners of this vast land. Chukchi blood wedding straight out of Game of Thrones Life in Chukotka is harsh — it’s a cold, inhospitable land — yet people have lived there since time immemorial. Not only do they survive, herding reindeer and fishing, but they also marry — in a way that would impress George R. R. Martin himself. The beautiful bride, adorned with beads and furs, rides her own reindeer in the company of her entire…
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