Self Stabbing | National Geographic

on the island of Bali signs of
spirituality are everywhere to be seen
there are at least twenty thousand
public temples and most have rituals
that are distinct from those of any
other but in the ancient village of
Kessie
believers take part in a right that
people elsewhere might consider taboo
tomorrow a goose Sue and Tara will rest
his faith on the point of a knife once
every Balinese year the people of his
village appealed to their gods during a
rite called
Bhangra bong-gun during pinger bong-gun
devotees offer their bodies to the will
of the gods who are said to control the
knife in return they hope the gods will
grant them continued prosperity in the
upcoming year although Indonesia is the
world’s most populous Muslim nation in
Bali the dominant religion blends
imported Hinduism with local belief in
spirits the spirit world infuses daily
life
auguste may have gotten his religious
conviction from his father on ik on ik
works carving the elaborate cremation
towers that typify Balinese funerals but
he also serves as a priest in the
upcoming ceremony as the priest it is
onyx responsibility to wear the mask of
Ronda the widow which of Death
the wrong damask will be purified to
gain consciousness the Balinese believe
that ceremonial masks act like lightning
rods for the gods they hold enormous
cosmic energy for good or evil when the
God enters into them it is the morning
of the festival all goose and other
members of his extended families set off
in a regal procession but they are not
alone column after column of devotees
from other family compounds and even
other villages fill the streets some of
the other groups have brought wrong to
masks of their own others arrive
accompanied by abiram a mythical beast
whose magic is believed to protect
villages from harm the gods begin to
arrive
on his himself over kuranda all around
other living gods cease breathing bodies
a spirit and a zombies one believer
after another is helped through the
ceremonial gate knives are raised and
ready then August impales the knife
against his chest it is the job of his
keepers to restrain him all around him
others take the same deadly only rarely
does the blade actually enter the body
but the attempted sacrifice is a clear
sign of the God’s presence
finally weary in days they are helped
back through the gate slowly the gods
depart the bodies of the faithful frog
loose his belief in the gods has
delivered and safely