The Most Painful Religious Rituals

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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:    • Extreme Ritual Explained [feat. Dr. D...  

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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/Fi... | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...

Bibliography:
Dimitris Xygalatas, "How Extreme Rituals Forge Intense Social Bonds," https://aeon.co/essays/how-extreme-ri...

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/art...

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