When someone dies, most people around the world bury the body or cremate it. However, some communities have historically practiced unusual funeral traditions that involve consuming the bodies of deceased relatives. These practices, known as endocannibalism, have been documented in certain societies as part of their beliefs about death, family, and the afterlife.
Although the idea may sound shocking to outsiders, these traditions have often carried deep cultural and spiritual meanings. Here are some communities known for historical funerary practices involving the consumption of the dead.
1. The Wari’ People of Brazil
The Wari’ people, an Indigenous group from the western Brazilian Amazon, are among the best-documented examples of a society that practiced funerary cannibalism.
Historically, some Wari’ communities practiced endocannibalism, in which the bodies of deceased members of their own community were consumed as part of funeral rituals. The practice was connected to their understanding of death, mourning, and relationships between the living and the dead.
For the Wari’, death was not simply a biological event. It also represented a profound change in relationships between relatives and the wider community. Their funerary customs helped the living deal with grief and the loss of someone they loved.
The practice was not intended as an act of disrespect toward the deceased. Instead, it formed part of a complex cultural system through which the living responded to death.
Christian missionary influence and other outside pressures contributed to the abandonment of these practices during the twentieth century. Today, the Wari’ people are known for their cultural heritage rather than for continuing this historical funeral custom.
2. The Fore People of Papua New Guinea
The Fore people of Papua New Guinea became internationally known because of a historical funeral practice involving the consumption of deceased relatives.
Among some Fore communities, the bodies of deceased family members were traditionally consumed during mortuary ceremonies. The practice was associated with mourning, kinship, and beliefs about the treatment of the dead.
However, this custom also became the focus of major medical research after an unusual and devastating disease affected the community.
The disease, known as kuru, caused progressive neurological damage. Its symptoms included difficulty walking, loss of coordination, involuntary movements, and eventually death.
Researchers discovered that kuru was a prion disease transmitted through exposure to infectious tissue, particularly brain tissue. The historical mortuary practice allowed the infectious agent to spread among participants.
As the practice declined during the twentieth century, new cases of kuru gradually decreased. Nevertheless, cases continued to appear for decades because the disease can have an exceptionally long incubation period.
The Fore experience became an important contribution to scientific understanding of prion diseases and the risks associated with consuming infected human tissue.
3. The Korowai People of Papua, Indonesia
The Korowai people live in the forested lowlands of Papua, Indonesia. They have attracted international attention because of their traditional way of life, distinctive architecture, and historical accounts of beliefs involving cannibalism.
Some accounts of Korowai culture describe the killing and consumption of people believed to be khakhua, a term associated in certain accounts with a harmful supernatural being thought to cause illness or death.
However, it is important to distinguish these reports from the practice of consuming deceased relatives as a funeral tradition. The accounts generally concern accusations of sorcery and the belief that a person was responsible for another person’s death.
Reports about Korowai cannibalism have also sometimes been sensationalized by television programs and travel media. The extent to which such practices continue today is uncertain, and it would be inaccurate to assume that all Korowai people participate in them.
The Korowai have diverse experiences and relationships with the outside world, and their culture should not be reduced to sensational stories about cannibalism.
4. The Yanomami People of the Amazon
The Yanomami are an Indigenous people living across parts of Brazil and Venezuela. They are widely known for their distinct languages, community traditions, and close relationship with the Amazon rainforest.
Some Yanomami communities historically practiced a form of funerary endocannibalism involving the cremation of deceased relatives and the subsequent consumption of their ashes mixed with a plantain-based preparation.
This practice is commonly described as part of their mortuary traditions. Rather than consuming the body itself, participants consumed preparations containing the deceased person’s cremated remains.
The ritual was associated with mourning, the continuation of relationships with deceased relatives, and the community’s understanding of death. It was not simply a matter of eating human remains for food.
Practices varied among communities, and not every Yanomami group followed identical customs. These traditions have also changed over time through contact with outsiders, religious influences, and other social developments.
The Yanomami example demonstrates that funeral customs can differ dramatically across cultures and that the meaning of a ritual cannot be understood simply by looking at the physical actions involved.
5. The Aghori Ascetics of India
The Aghori are a small religious ascetic tradition associated with Hinduism, particularly with forms of worship connected to Lord Shiva.
They are sometimes mentioned in discussions of cannibalism because certain historical accounts and reports describe the consumption of human flesh or substances associated with human remains by some Aghori ascetics.
These practices are not equivalent to the traditional funeral customs of the Wari’ or Fore people. Rather, they are associated with particular ascetic beliefs about confronting death, overcoming fear, and challenging conventional distinctions between purity and impurity.
Some Aghori ascetics have historically performed rituals in cremation grounds, places that hold deep symbolic significance within their religious worldview.
However, sensational accounts frequently exaggerate or generalize these practices. Not every Aghori engages in the consumption of human remains, and it would be misleading to describe the entire tradition as one that eats the dead.
Their beliefs are complex and should be understood within the broader context of Hindu religious practices and ascetic traditions.
Understanding the Difference Between These Traditions
Although these five communities are sometimes discussed together, their historical practices were not identical.
Endocannibalism refers to the consumption of human remains from within one’s own social group, sometimes as part of funeral customs. Exocannibalism, by contrast, refers to consuming people from outside one’s own group.
The historical practices associated with the Wari’ and Fore are examples of funerary endocannibalism. The Yanomami practice involved consuming ashes mixed with a plantain preparation rather than eating the deceased person’s body directly.
Reports about the Korowai concern different cultural beliefs, while the Aghori tradition involves particular religious and ascetic practices rather than a general custom of eating deceased relatives.
These distinctions matter because describing every practice simply as cannibalism can obscure the beliefs and circumstances behind it.
Conclusion
The ways people respond to death vary considerably across the world. While burial and cremation are familiar funeral practices in many societies, other communities have historically developed rituals that outsiders may find difficult to understand.
For the Wari’, Fore, and some Yanomami communities, practices involving deceased relatives or their remains were connected to mourning, kinship, and spiritual beliefs. The Korowai and Aghori examples involve different cultural contexts and should not be treated as identical traditions.
It is also important to remember that historical customs do not necessarily reflect how these communities live today. Many traditions have changed or disappeared, and sensational descriptions can create misleading stereotypes.
Learning about these practices offers a reminder that human cultures have developed remarkably different ways of understanding death, honoring relatives, and coping with loss.