It is the 21st century and one would imagine that civilization has done enough to bring change to certain archaic societies, especially with the impact of globalization.

However, this is not the case mostly as the Dani tribe has remained unchanged, together with their traditions.

Located in a remote area of Wemena in Papau Province, around Cyclops mountains, Indonesia, the Dani tribe is only accessible by plane.

A Dani ChiefSome of the traditions of the Dani tribe is still a shocker to many and we will look into some of them.

• The Dani tribe shave off their hairs and wear all black to funerals.

A Dani tribes man

• When a member of the Dani tribe dies, the deceased’s relatives mush go through both physical and emotional pain to mourn the dead.

• The Dani tribe while mourning the deceased, the fingers of family members, are cut off.

However women are mostly subjected to this.

Even female babies have the tips of their fingers bitten off by their mothers.

A Dani tribes woman

It is worrisome that just a few older men go through finger cutting ritual.

This makes the women the victims of the ritual as the more you loose a loved one or family member, the more fingers you will cut off.

The finger cutting is done by tying a string around the upper part of the finger for about 30 mins which will cause the part to go numb.

This is to reduce pain during cutting. After this, a sharp Stone object is used to cut the numb part off. It is usually done by a parent or close family member.

Sharp Stone used for finger cutting Ritual

The reason behind this ritual is to appease the spirit of the deceased family member.

And also to experience physical pain which will ease the emotional pain of losing a family member.

The finger which was cut off will be thrown into the coffin or grave of the dead family member.

This is to show that the living will always remember the dead.

Most older women in the Dani tribe have had all ten fingers cut off.

This is as a result of years of mourning dead family members.

An aged Dani woman who has lost family members