In many Eastern countries, paying respects to the dead with earthly gifts -- like food and money -- is not an uncommon practice. But in Taiwan, some have taken ancestor worship to sexier heights, as strippers pole dance and peel off their clothes for the benefit of the deceased.
According to an AFP report released Tuesday, pole dances and stripteases are commonly performed at religious festivals in some areas in Taiwan in order to "appease the wandering spirits."
In some cases, women dressed in tiny miniskirts and revealing brassieres shimmy and shake on stage in front an audience of men, women and children.
However, though this may seem bizarre to some, it is neither a new nor terribly unorthodox practice -- at least as far as Taiwan goes.
In 2011, anthropologist Marc L. Moskowitz featured this practice in a documentary entitled "Dancing for the Dead: Funeral Strippers in Taiwan."
A synopsis of the film states:
Funeral strippers work on Electric Flower Cars (EFC) which are trucks that have been converted to moving stages so that women can perform as the vehicles follow along with funerals or religious processions. EFC came to Taiwan's public attention in 1980 when newspapers began covering the phenomenon of stripping at funerals.
There is a great deal of debate about whether this should be allowed to continue. In Taipei, Taiwan's capital, one often hears middle and upper class men complain about the harmful effects of this rural practice on public morality. In contrast, people in the industry see themselves as talented performers and fans of the practice say that it makes events more exciting. Read more here via Huffington Post
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