Les Stroud's Beyond Survival

The Hewa and the Hidden Secret Ceremony Part 1

The Hewa who adorn their huts with skulls, were thought to be headhunters; In actuality, it is a memorializing tradition that returns the skull to the home of the dead’s relatives. Hewa burial is upright, allowing the head to be more easily retrieved two years after death and then returned to the family home following a memorial ceremony including ingesting Beetlenut, a mild mental stimulant.

The Hewa and the Hidden Secret Ceremony Part 1

26m 46s

The Hewa who adorn their huts with skulls, were thought to be headhunters; In actuality, it is a memorializing tradition that returns the skull to the home of the dead’s relatives. Hewa burial is upright, allowing the head to be more easily retrieved two years after death and then returned to the family home following a memorial ceremony including ingesting Beetlenut, a mild mental stimulant.

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