Blood Brotherhood

Blood brotherhood refers to two or more people not related by birth who have sworn loyalty to each other, typically through a ritual in which small cuts are made and pressed together so that each participant's blood mingles with the other's. The bond formed typically obliges the participants to mutual support and loyalty, and when practiced between groups it most often serves to bind together potentially hostile parties, forming an alliance in war or concluding a peace. The custom is documented across a wide range of cultures: Norse foster brotherhood (fostbraedralag) sealed through a turf-raising ritual, Scythian oaths mixing blood with wine in a shared cup, Mongol, Turkic and Chinese traditions, the Philippine sandugo rite sealing friendships and treaties, oath-taking across sub-Saharan Africa, and blood-oath alliances in the Balkans under Ottoman rule. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/