The Most Painful Religious Rituals

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Uploaded 31-10-19

Self-flagellation. Body mortification. Fire-walking. Global religion has bunches of examples of extreme, painful rituals. But why do humans do them?
Watch full interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRdi0hNqVSw&feature=youtu.be

Full picture: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9bz875/do-anthropologists-consider-the-ice-bucket-challenge-an-extreme-ritual-106

All photographs are courtesy of Dr. Dimitris Xygalatas unless otherwise stated.
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Other photo credits:
Wikimedia Commons, tajai : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:15ème_Fête_de_Ganesh_(4939345552).jpg | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thaipusam7.jpg

Bibliography:
Dimitris Xygalatas, "How Extreme Rituals Forge Intense Social Bonds," https://aeon.co/essays/how-extreme-rituals-forge-intense-social-bonds

Fischer et. al., "The Fire-Walker’s High: Affect and Physiological Responses in an Extreme Collective Ritual," February 2014 | Volume 9 | Issue 2
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0088355&type=printable

Xygalatas et. al. “Effects of Extreme Ritual Practices on Psychophysiological Well-Being,” Current Anthropology, Volume 60, Number 5, October 2019.



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