Where villagers cut off fingers to express sorrow

In the Dani tribe, Indonesia, when a loved one in the family passes away, the remaining individuals express their grief by cutting off one of their own fingers.

Exploring the Dani tribe in Indonesia - where villagers cut off fingers to express sorrow

Cutting off fingers is one of the cultural practices passed down through generations among the Dani tribe, Papua, Indonesia.

When family members die, people mourn them and express their sorrow by cutting off one segment of a finger. Additionally, villagers cover their faces with ash and clay to signify mourning. However, this finger-cutting ritual is primarily performed by women in the tribe, a ceremony considered brutal and horrifying.

According to Dani tribal beliefs, if the deceased was strong in life, their soul retains power in death and may haunt the living. Therefore, to appease the departed souls and ensure their peaceful transition, female relatives must amputate their fingers.

Before cutting, the fingers will be tightly bound for 30 minutes and then left to dry. Afterward, they will be taken to be burnt, and the ashes of these fingers will be buried in a special area.

Some also explain that the physical pain from finger cutting symbolizes the emotional pain when we lose loved ones. The ones performing the finger cutting will be fathers, mothers, or siblings. In another peculiar ritual, babies are also subjected to finger cutting by their mothers in the hope that they will live longer.

The Dani tribe leads a relatively primitive life much like many decades ago due to their remote geographical location, which is difficult to access. They live in a valley at an altitude of 1,600 meters in the Cyclops mountain range, with the only town named Wamena. Visitors can only reach here by plane.

The population of the tribe is around 250,000 people and is one of the tribes with the highest population in Papua, the largest province of Indonesia.

In addition to the tradition of finger cutting for mourning the deceased, the Dani are also known as a tribe that hunts human heads.

According to Vnexpress

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Source: Your ultimate travel guide Mytour