10 Strange Practices Different Religions Somehow Invented on Their Own

Faith has done a lot. It has led to war. It has built whole realms. It has changed the way we live. But it has a stranger side too.

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Look past the well-known bits, past the fast days and the prayers most folks know, and you find odd stuff. Faiths from far-off lands that could not meet kept coming up with the same strange acts. They chose the same sort of peak to call holy. They lit fires meant to burn on, with no end. They left the dead out for birds, not in the ground. No one planned this. No priests from Rome, Tibet, and Egypt met to work it out. Yet the same odd ways come up time and again, on far shores, in faiths with no shared root at all.

These ten are some of the strangest.

10. A Holy Peak, Every Time

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Ask why a mountain matters to a faith, and you get ten different answers. Ask how many faiths picked a mountain at all, and the count is huge. The ancient Greeksplaced their gods on Mount Olympus. Jews, Christians, and Muslims all point to Mount Sinai as the spot where God spoke to Moses. Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and the Bon faith of Tibet all treat Mount Kailash as the centre of the world, and no one is allowed to climb it. Shinto folk in Japan see Mount Fuji as holy ground. These groups had no shared root for the idea. Most had never heard of each other when the belief took hold. Yet each one looked up at a peak that touched the clouds and came to the same odd choice: this must be where sky and earth meet.

Source: Fodor’s, “The World’s Most Sacred Mountains” — fodors.com/news/photos/the-worlds-most-sacred-mountains

9. A Wash Before Each Prayer

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Long ago, before folks knew about germs, faiths still had people wash up before prayer. This was not for health. It was for the soul. Jews use a bath called a mikveh. Strict rules guide how it must be built. It is meant to bring back a state of pure form. Christians mark entry to the faith with baptism. This may be a full dip or a pour of water on the head. Muslims wash their hands, face, and feet in a rite called wudu. They do this before each of the daily prayers. Shinto folks in Japan wash at a stone tub, in a rite called temizu, right before they step up to a shrine. Hindus bathe in the Ganges River. Many hold that the water can wash sin away. None of these faiths took the idea from each other. Each one, on its own, chose to put water first.

Source: Universal Life Church Blog, “Water, Water Everywhere: A Look at Water Rituals in Other Faiths Besides Christianity” — universallifechurch.org/2025/03/18/water-water-everywhere-a-look-at-water-rituals-in-other-faiths-besides-christianity

8. A Fire That Must Never Go Out

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Some faiths did not just use fire. They made a vow to keep one flame lit for good. Priests in Iran have kept a fire lit in one shrine for over 1,500 years. They moved it from town to town to keep it safe in hard times. In old Rome, a group of women called the Vestal Virgins had one main job. Keep the flame of the goddess Vesta lit, day and night, for hundreds of years straight. Those who study the past have found this same custom far from Rome or Iran too. It shows up in parts of Zimbabwe, and in lands across the Americas, long before white folks got there. These groups had no link to each other at all. Each one, on its own, felt that a flame kept alive could stand for something more than fire.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Nature Worship: Fire” — britannica.com/topic/nature-worship/Fire

7. Some Faiths Feed Their Dead to Birds

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Most groups put the dead in the ground, or set them to flame. A few faiths, worlds apart, chose a third way. Zoroastrians once laid a body on top of a stone tower, out in the sun, food for birds, so it would not touch holy ground or holy fire. Tibetan Buddhist folk, far away, built a rite near the same on their own. Folks call it sky burial. A body is brought to a high, bare spot and left for birds to take. The two faiths came at this from far apart starts. Zoroastrians saw a dead form as a thing to keep off holy ground. Tibetan Buddhists saw the form as an empty shell, and the gift to birds as one last act of grace. Two far-off roads. The same odd end.

Source: Atlas Obscura, “What Remains of Asia’s Traditional Sky Burial Sites” — atlasobscura.com/articles/sky-burials-towers-of-silence-birds-corpses-asia

6. A Cut That Marks You as Faithful

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This cut shows up in faiths that had no way to talk to each other at all. Jewish law calls for it on day eight of a boy’s life, a sign of the pact with God. Islam holds it as a key rite, tied to the same man, Abraham. Old Egyptian art shows the same rite done on boys long ago, for reasons that had nothing to do with those faiths. The rite also appears in groups across parts of Africa. It is found among the first peoples of Australia and on some islands in the Pacific. Most tie it to the step into adult life. These groups did not share a founder, a text, or a homeland. On their own, each one came to the same view. Mark the flesh, and let the mark stand for something held sacred.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Circumcision” — britannica.com/topic/circumcision-ritual-surgical-procedure

5. Giving Up Sex to Get Closer to God

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Across faiths that share close to nothing else, some of the most devout believers made the same hard call. No wed, no sex, for life. Catholic monks, nuns, and priests take a vow of no sex on entry to church life. Buddhist monks and nuns in one branch of the faith keep the same rule, and have done so since long before the birth of Christ. Jain monks and nuns take it yet further, and give up not just sex but nearly all they own. Hindu holy men known as sadhus tend to walk the same path in their late years. These paths grew up in far-off parts of Asia and Europe, ages apart, with no shared rule book. Yet each one, on its own, chose to give up one of our strongest urges, to draw closer to God.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Monasticism” — britannica.com/topic/monasticism

4. A Taboo Tied to a Woman’s Blood

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This taboo, tied to faith, is one of the most widespread on Earth, yet few folks talk of it. Jewish law calls a woman on her cycle niddah, and sets a limit on touch at that time. Old Zoroastrian texts told her to stay a set count of steps back from fire, from water, and from holy men. Hindu rule in many towns keeps her from shrines, from meals, and from holy things at that time of month. Shinto sites in Japan have long held that she could not step on holy ground at that time. Those who study faith have found some form of this same rule in nearly every big faith on Earth. Each group found it on its own, in lands that had no swap of ideas with each other at all.

Source: Encyclopedia.com, “Untouchability: Menstrual Taboos” — encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/untouchability-menstrual-taboos

3. The Same Trickster God, Everywhere

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Nearly every myth on Earth has one figure who does not fit the mould. Norse myth has Loki, a shape-shifter who lies, steals, and helps set off the end of the world. West African lore has Anansi, a spider who wins through wit, not brute force. Native groups across a whole land tell tales of Coyote, a foolish, sharp figure who stirs up chaos and by luck makes something good. Old Greek myth has Hermes, a god who steals cows as a babe and lies to another god’s face about it. Yoruba lore in West Africa has Eshu, who stands guard at each crossroad and picks which prayers even reach the gods. These groups had no link to each other when these figures took form. Each one built its own take on the same odd idea. A god who breaks the rules can still make the world a richer place.

Source: History Cooperative, “11 Trickster Gods Around the World” — historycooperative.org/trickster-gods

2. Believing You Lived Before

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Folks tend to think that coming back to life is a Hindu or a Buddhist thing, and no one else’s. That is not true. Old Greek minds, such as Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato, held that the soul comes back in a new form once you die. This was part of a faith called Orphism. The Roman scribe Julius Caesar wrote that the Druids of Gaul and Britain, far from Greece or from India, held this same view. The soul does not die. It just moves to a new form. Among the Yoruba of West Africa, the thought that a soul comes back through one’s own kin runs deep. It still shows up in names given to babes now. None of these groups shared one root. Each one, with no link to the rest, found that death was not the end of the tale.

Source: Encyclopedia.com, “Reincarnation” — encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/other-religious-beliefs-and-general-terms/religion-general/reincarnation

1. A Test Your Soul Must Pass at Death

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Save the strangest for last. A good number of faiths, on their own, came up with close to the same idea. The moment you die, something puts your whole life on trial. In old Egypt, the god Anubis weighed the heart of the dead against a feather that stood for truth. A heart that weighed more than the feather meant the soul was eaten on the spot. In Zoroastrian belief, the new dead soul must cross a thin bridge. It grows wide for the good, and thin as a blade for the bad. Islamic faith holds a like scene, a bridge thinner than a hair and sharp as a sword, set over fire below. Old Greek belief held that souls were set on a scale too, a rite scholars call psychostasia. These faiths grew up ages and whole worlds apart. Yet each one landed on close to the same scene: a moment of judgment, right after death, that only the worthy pass through.

Source: TheCollector, “The Weighing of the Heart Ceremony and Its Role in the Egyptian Afterlife” — thecollector.com/weighing-heart-ceremony-ancient-egypt

Final Thought

None of these ten habits gets taught in school. They are odd, old, and far less known than a fast or the Golden Rule. Yet each one shows up, built on its own, in faiths that had no way to copy from each other. Holy peaks. A wash before prayer. A flame that will not die. A corpse left for birds. A cut as a pact. A vow with no sex. Fear tied to blood. Gods who break each rule. A soul that comes back. A test at the end of life. Far lands. Far ages. Gods with no link at all. And still, time and time again, the same odd path.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Monasticism” — britannica.com/topic/monasticism

[embed]10 Hidden similarities of the world’s religions Over 4,000 religions exist on Earth. Yet beneath the different gods, books, and rituals, they all seem to be saying the…medium.com

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