Religious rituals

Filipinos are naturally very superstitious people. People from all classes and walks of life will happily tell you about the various different goblins and flying demons they have seen and believe in. This is perhaps why the practice of psychic surgery has become so popular. During an "operation", the psychic surgeon's finger penetrates the patient's skin and extracts bad energy that is making them ill, materialised into some sort of bloody lump. It leaves a bit of blood but no scars. No matter how much you bend over and get up close while watching an operation, it really does appear that the surgeon's finger is inside the patient. However, a couple of documentaries have proved that the psychic surgeons they followed were just scammers. There are plenty more of these people out there though and one thing is for sure: the man who performed the "operation" pictured was working for free in a church in a poor area of Manila, "operating" on patients because of his and their belief that it would help them.

Once a year, the war god Kataragama, son of Shiva, is celebrated in the streets of Colombo. Hindu devotees honour him and pray for his healing and blessing through a rough day of sacrifices. Some worshippers are pierced through their mouthes and tongues and hung by huge hooks pierced through the skin of their backs, while others, also tongue pierced, roll all the way to the temple. Everyone can participate as the audience is getting blessed by the self-sacrificed disciples. A hand on the head and some holy dust in the hair and Kataragama's strong power might be transferred. It's a holy madness that only Hindus can make sense of and a not-to-be-missed experience.