Black Broth & Broken Vines
What would you suffer or risk to become a full member of your community? Would you jump from extreme heights with only a vine to catch you? Would you allow your body to be surgically and permanently changed without the benefits of modern medicine like anesthesia? Would you kill?
Co-hosts Eric Slyter and Curtis Bender discuss real historical rites of passage in this Horrific History episode, covering documented examples from Spartans to more modern accounts of land diving from Papua New Guinea. From extreme heights (and horrible deaths), to murder and ending with genital mutilation we’re covering some of the rituals you may be glad you don’t have to do for your life milestones, right down to the penile subincision. As always: No squeam allowed!
Please Note: This episode does include a rite of passage which, in the cultural myths of its origins which is discussed by our co-hosts, does allude to something which could be interpreted as domestic violence. Further research, after the episode was recorded, revealed high rates of violence against women in that area. If you are a victim of domestic violence of any kind, there is help available. Some of the resources which are available to our listeners will be linked at the bottom of this episode description.
Join us as we delve into this Horrific History episode through one of your favorite podcast services (iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn and more), and come back again in two weeks to learn about the history of compression and decompression sickness!
Some of our favorite resources from this week’s episode:
- Daily Mail
- CNN
- Storytracking: Texts, Stories, and histories in Central Australia
- Grand Valley Journal of History
- Elysiumgates.com
- Sparta’s Kings
- ABC
- Sparta Reconsidered
Commercial break music by Dead but Dreaming.
Slideshow photo from Sparta Reconsidered.
Photo by http://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images/a3/5e/654b8cef7f9db893bdb2efc66ac2.jpgGallery: http://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/M0005682.html, CC BY 4.0, Link:
Resources for Victims of Domestic Violence:
National Domestic Violence Hotline (USA). If you know of a resource for your country which should be listed, please send us a message so we can update our list.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Email | TuneIn | RSS | More
[…] Join us as we delve into this Horrific History episode through one of your favorite podcast services (iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn and more), and come back again in two weeks to learn about various rites of passage! […]
[…] when you’ll be paying it off for years to come? A timely follow up to our recent episode Black Broth and Broken Vines, the linked article is an exercise in contrasts. […]
[…] spiritual explanations for the natural workings of the heavens; we even have some signs from the aboriginal afterlife! Hear about doomsday cults, castrations, suicides and plagues all associated with cosmic […]
[…] did scientists prove that typhoid helped determine the outcome of the Peloponnesian War between the Spartans and the Athenians around 430 BCE, and what conditions allowed it to help wipe out an estimated 1/3 […]