Santeria Video -- National Geographic

Santeria Video Santeria was brought to the New World by African slaves. They believe their deities are living things, with the same needs as other beings. But each one has the power to bring good luck...or misfortune.Video Sections

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- Apache Girl's Rite of Passage - In New Mexico, the Mescalero Apache reservation prepares for a coming-of-age ritual. Over the span of four days, young Apache girls will pass through ancient tests of strength, endurance, and character that will make them women.
- Blood Initiation - The highlands of Papua New Guinea...a place so remote that the people who live here, are among the most isolated. One of the native tribes practices an ageless ritual so secret that it has never before been witnessed by some members of the tribe.
- Cave of Spirits - Down a dim corridor...in a tiny, locked room...out of bounds to all but a tormented few, is the cave of spirits...a home for the dead and last hope for the possessed.
- Crocodile Scars - In Papua New Guinea, a group of initiates is about to enter the final stage of a long and arduous ritual. There is no set age for the rite ... but no one can have full status as a man until he's been scarred with the mark of the crocodile.
- Drinking Absinthe - It was the drink that set 19th century Paris reeling. Banned for almost a century, absinthe is back. And already a new generation is developing a craving for its unique punch—a wallop some compare to marijuana, speed and even LSD.
- Drug Tourists - For millennia, indigenous groups here have used plant hallucinogens in an ancient form of healing. But can powerful drugs used as sacraments be taken by tourists, with the same mystical effects?
- Duck Fetus Dinner - To many Westerners, Asia has more than its share of suspicious-looking foods. But it's a good bet that there's nothing as popular while at the same time as utterly shocking to outsiders. Could you eat the fetus of a duck...just days from hatching?
- Eating Bats - In the far reaches of Papua New Guinea, the Karan tribesmen hunt a delectable dish. It has fur, fangs and claws. And it's not something most Westerners would dare to taste. It's a bat—the flying fox bat, to be precise.
- Eating Live Octopus - It has a big, bulbous head...beady black eyes...and eight squirming tentacles. It's the octopus. Many would call it ugly and disgusting. The one thing they wouldn't call it is dinner.
- Explorer's Club Dinner - Once a year, the Big Apple hosts a unique dinner —the annual gala of the Explorer's Club. The highlight of the evening is the cocktail hour, where the finger food might have legs, a face, or even a tongue.
- Firewalking - A firewalking festival called the Anastenaria, revolves around a set of ancient icons that worshippers believe have special powers—to purify, heal and protect. But others view the ritual as sacrilege.
- Healing Spirit - In rural Ethiopia, the old ways still prevail. 25 miles from Addis Ababa, the village of Debre Zeyet prepares for a special ritual. From miles around, the ill and the injured come—hoping to see the one person they believe can help.
- Living in Tombs - Manila's North Cemetery is the city's largest, with 70 to 80 funerals a day, and more than one million buried here. For most, this would be a chilling place to visit. But to some Filipinos, this sea of tombs and bones is the place they call home.
- Male Circumcision - The Eastern Cape Province of South Africa is home to the Xhosa people, one of the nation's largest tribes. They live in the modern world, but they maintain ancient customs—including one by which boys become men...and starts with pain.
- Matam - Hundreds of thousands of Shia Muslims live in Hyderabad, India...and for several days each year, they demonstrate their faith in a dramatic spectacle called Matam.
- Nudist Camp - It's Christmas time in Florida, a time when neighbors get together to share some holiday cheer. But at this Christmas party, some might say they share too much.
- Rat Temple - At first glance, this temple in northern India looks like any other. But this temple also houses other deities. And there's not one...not two...but over 15,000 of them inside. Welcome to the rat temple.
- Santeria - Santeria was brought to the New World by African slaves. They believe their deities are living things, with the same needs as other beings. But each one has the power to bring good luck...or misfortune.
- Scarification - Young men from the Bessoribe tribe in Benin gather to get their skin sliced. This arduous, bloody process is a rite of manhood.
- Speaking to the Dead - In the jungles of Central Africa, holy men from a religion called Bwiti believe they have found a way to talk to the dead. The key is a mind-altering drug that brings on violent, terrifying visions, and occasionally even death.
- Spirit Healers - In Zimbabwe people have access to modern medicine. Yet many of the people still have powerful ties to the world of the spirits. And when modern remedies fail, many turn to traditional healers.
- Thaipusam - Some cultures invoke the spirits in ways outsiders might find strange or even shocking—allowing their bodies to be pierced with skewers and hooks. But each year, more than a million Malaysian Hindus take part in this ceremony called, Thaipusam.
- Vampires - It's the most unholy of acts—drinking human blood. Committed by creatures of the night—vampires! Most people don't think they really exist. But could it be they're closer than you'd ever dream?
Ancient Mysteries - Mysteries of Ancient Temples
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