Self Mortification

Not me, not mine. I am not into pain or denial. In fact, I haven't even been able to get through lent without grumbling about this and that, never mind actually inflicting pain on myself. No, I am referring to the self mortification of a young, handsome Sri Lankan man. I was witness to a Hindu ceremony of self mortification that left me shaking and nauseous.


Yesterday, I received a phone call from the nurse that I work with. "Wendy, come quickly to our gate." So, I ran out the door of the clinic, across the crowded parking lot and through our gate. A band played lively music as I ran. A parade was occurring on the road along the hospital grounds. I ran back to my office in the clinic, grabbed my video camera and ran back to watch and film the parade. This parade was led by a truck with a mast that was listing at a 45 degree angle out the front. This truck was followed by people in costumes that looked like the seven dwarfs, a troupe of male dancers and a troop of female dancers and then two floats that looked like mini Hindu temples.


The truck with the mast stopped directly in front of me and a bunch of men began chanting. A table materialized from the crowd and was placed below the mast mounted on the truck. A young man in a short orange sarong and an orange bandana was lifted and placed face down upon the table. The chanting continued as men crowded around the table, covering the man with a cloth. The chanting men also placed their heads under the cloth and continued chanting and moving around under the cloth.

Then I saw ropes come out from under the cloth and they began tying the ropes to the mast. I now, had an inkling of what might be coming. The man's face was visible all the while and he had a bit in his mouth that looked made of metal. His head swooned from side to side along with the chanting. A female shaman (?) danced around the table and the truck. Then incense was lit, fruits were set out on a tray and laid at the head of the table. Chanting continued and then suddenly, men on the truck pulled on the ropes attached to the mast and the man was lifted from the table and suspended in the air. He was suspended from two meat hooks embedded in the skin on his shoulder blades, two hooks embedded into his buttocks and two hooked into his ankles.


A scarf hung from the mast in front of the man. He used the scarf to swing his body. The chanting continued, the band played the lively music, the dancers danced and the truck began moving along the road. It stopped in front of our clinic gate. The chanting reached a crescendo as the suspended man was offered a plate of ash (I think) which he then dipped his fingers into and then placed this ash on the foreheads of the crowd, who pressed in to be blessed by him. People handed him tiny babies that he carried and who then, swung with him.


I could watch no longer. I returned to the clinic shaking and nauseous and distressed that, for more than an hour and a half, I could continue to hear the chanting and the music and knowing that a young man was doing that to himself.


This challenged me. I am trying not to judge. I know some extremists, even in the Catholic faith practice self mortification, but I have always felt it severely misguided. Who would do that to themselves? There is enough suffering in the world without it being self inflicted. I do not understand. It was no parade.
Picture of Shaman and suspended man