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Wednesday, November 16

Um, those men aren't bleeding

Chariot Festival - Kavadi - July 24, 2016 - Sri Varasiththi Vinaayagar Temple - Canada (YouTube)

This post is especially for people who complain their knees and backs hurt when they kneel for a few minutes in church. 
But this video of a religious festival is not for the squeamish. Don't say I didn't warn you. This is old-time religion, really old-time. I think we were a lot tougher in those days or maybe it's that we took our religious practices more seriously. Yet I still don't understand why there's no blood. 

Then of course there's also the pain. No, I don't think they're doped up; notice how much they have to function while they're swinging from the hooks -- all sorts of ritual gestures, and at one point the man closest to the camera picks up a child and carries her, then he carries a woman, as part of the ritual. 

It would be the same for being hypnotized or in a trance, wouldn't it?  They have to be very much aware of what they're doing. So how deep could the trance be?  

As for some kind of topical anesthetic -- the hooks aren't topical; they dig deep into the flesh and out the other end. 

Are they Yogis?  Ya think?   

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