Where women engage in fist fights to call the rain

 All the blood they spill during the fight is collected in buckets, and later used to plough and water their lands

Every year, in the month of May, women from the Nahua villages of Guerrero, Mexico, get together to beat the living daylights out of each other.

All the blood they spill during the fight is collected in buckets, and later used to plough and water their lands.

The villagers believe that this bizarre ritual will bring the rain and provide bountiful harvests!

VICE Magazinel reports, the festival, like many others in Mexico, combines catholic and prehispanic traditions. On the first day, women wake up early to make large quantities of food.

They prepare turkey, chicken, rice, boiled eggs, pozole, mole, and tortillas, which they take along with them to the fighting grounds. At the official site, they lay out the food and decorate the area with flowers.

They recite prayers for the Virgin Mary and for the local rain god Tlaloc, after which it is time for the fighting to begin.

The villagers stand in a circle, forming a ring of sorts, waiting for their adversaries to arrive from neighboring communities. When everyone has arrived, the women begin to seek out opponents, challenging them to fights. The older women, who are seasoned warriors, provoke younger girls to get into the ring and spill some blood.

Once the opponents are decided, the women get into the ring and face each other, tying up their hair and taking off their jewelry. One of them throws the first punch, the crowd begins to cheer, and pretty soon, a bloody fight is underway. The women don't seem to care about winning, all they want is to spill and collect as much blood as possible.

They might ask for a time out to clean up their bloodied noses, but they'll get right on with the punching once they're done. Men and children sometimes join in as well, and the fighting continues until dark, after which everyone hugs each other and heads back home.

Interestingly, this is not the only bloody celebration in the world. Every year, the Chumbivilcas community of Peru holds Takanakuy, a festive event where people get to solve their differences the old fashioned way, with punches and kicks.

But, just like the fighting women of Guerrero, combatants shake hands and walk away on good terms after the fight.

However, both these violent traditions pale in comparison to Gotmar Mela, a centuries-old stone throwing fight between two rival Indian villages. Held every year, the event leaves hundreds critically injured and even dead.

Truth Justice and reconciliation chairman Francis Ole Kaparo should perhaps give this a try.