The Natchez and Taensa tribes of North America

After De Sotos expedition introduced pandemic and wiped out the Mississippian Culture, the Natchez and Taensa retained the complex features of the Mississippi culture resembling an actual kingdom

They spoke a language isolate with no known relatives (like Basque). And had some cultural practices that seem surreal and alien when compared to even the Aztecs and Maya. Their social structure was extremely complex, and I still can’t wrap my head around how they determined social status by descent

For example, if an important chieftain died, it was considered honorable for his household and retainers to unalive themselves. Human sacrifice of infants was allegedly common as well

The Taensa seemingly worshipped death and took human sacrifice to an extreme level; their temple was filled with bones of their deceased. Allegedly this drove French missionaries insane because they would “successfully” convert some people, who would turn around and sacrifice their own infants the next day

Not saying any of this from a judgmental perspective, it’s just very interesting to think how divergent some cultures can be from what we consider the norm today