IIRC the tradition of fighting with bulls go way back, the first I think were the Minoans/Knossos. So that would be, what?, 3000+ years? ;)

And the bulls going extinct:

What I find funny, that several European states did re-introduce the wisent and they are being used as a replacement for the normal cows, some reasons: No stable needed, no problem with BSE, hardly any vaccination needed and so on ;)

Unfortunate the auroch has been made extinct :(

And man, I would like to see a fight between a wild wisent or buffalo against one of those Bull-fighters ;)

What do you think, who would win?

A friend from Syria used to drink that quite often. He called it "heba mate". It was like his daily ritual. I do wonder what does it taste like.
I'd be happy if they were thrown it there, one by one, unarmed. I'm guessing they would no longer act tough.

I think I've mentioned in a similar thread (also started by zeogold??) the concept of "takaluf" ('formality' being the closest meaningful translation).
It's like when you go to visit someone and they offer you tea and biscuits, you say "No, no, no thank you", and then they insist, and you again say no, until finally you agree (or they bring it anyway).
A bit troublesome for me, considering I am not a fan of tea OR biscuits. My go-to solution is to finally say "No thank you, but I'd love some chilled water if you have any".

Not sure what else to mention. Most of the other weird customs are connected to "events" like weddings. For example, there is this thing called "Joota chhuppai" (shoe hiding), where the bride's family nabs the groom's shoes, and asks him for money before giving them back.

If i remember correctly, the story goes that he was SUPPOSED to use his whip to grab the sword out of the enemy's hand. After multiple takes and lots of frustration, he, as a joke, pulled out his gun in one of the takes. The director decided to shoot the scene like that afterwards.
....so it's bullfighting....without the cape and swords and stuff? Like, the guy IS the cape?
i don't get what he's supposed to do. Avoid the bull? Jump hold of it and leap over like the ancient Cretes?
Either way, it doesn't seem like a very bright idea.
I'm pretty sure that's really just an urban legend. Nobody actually does it except for people who hear about it, think it's a "thing", and decide to do it.
Yerba mate? I've heard of this stuff. It's actually sold in a lot of stores here, but I've never tried it.
I don't recall seeing you in one of my threads before. Musta snuck in under the radar.

It seems like quite a few cultures have the whole excessive formality thing, although the shoe-hiding is a new one on me. I wonder how that started?

Nope, three different places, 2 in the US, once in Eire. They hadn't had anything else to do. Man that was boring....but let's see if somebody else is replying ;)

And Zeogold, the idea of grabbing/touching is not so uncommon. IIRD quite a few of the American Indians were having this ritual for man-hood (but they used a real opponent and no backup ;) ). And I think the idea is similar to the Cretes? (with Vteyes you mean Minoans/Knossos?)

In portuguese it would be "Erva Mate", it's bitter, but it's alright.

For the curious:

In Australian we call it "Whatever Mate".

No Kleetus. Not everything is called "whatever". That's just what people say to you everytime you open your mouth.

It's some kinda tea, right?
...please tell me you're still talking about bulls.
Yes, the Minoan Cretes, as shown in the famous fresco.

Yes, you might drink it however you prefer, but if we are referring to local customs, that special cup and straw are just as central to the tradition as the drink itself.

What's the significance of the cup and straw? Like, what are they supposed to do? Aerate the drink or something?

The drink takes a lot of the herb to make, as you can see in the picture, it's half water and half herb in a cup. The straw isn't just a tube, it has a flat part towards the bottom, with small holes to ensure you only drink the tea, and not eat it.

The cup is mostly a holdover from the natives who first drank the tea and introduced it to the europeans, and prepared it in this way, although using a cup of a different material would certainly alter the taste.
Thank you, this compliment means a lot coming from a transsexual connoisseur such as yourself.

Oh, wow! Interesting. Now I want to try some.
Over here, it just comes in a can, which, really, is probably the most American way to consume something.

Thank you, friend.

I have the entire 28 DVD series of Transsexual Babysitters.

Hoping one day it will be remastered in 4K HDR and 3D, it really needs 3D to be fully appreciated.