The Finger Cutting ritual of the Dani tribe is practised as a form of mourning in Papua, Indonesia.
Do you know: While the ritual was to be carried out by any member of the family of the deceased, it was mostly women that were subject to this ritual.
The people of the Dani tribe believed that the spirit of a person was as strong as his human form. And so as to appease the spirit and send it away, the fingertip of the member of family tied for 30 minutes, then cut, dried and burnt with the ashes buried in a specific area. The member also smeared ash and clay as a part of this (now banned) mourning ritual.
