Horror, Sleaze and Trash.

Some cultures invoke the spirits by allowing their bodies to be pierced with skewers and hooks. Each year, more than a million Malaysian Hindus take part in this ceremony called, Thaipusam. They take part in public processions, carrying pots or brass jugs of milk on their head, piercing their cheeks, doing prostrations or performing the kavadi dance whilst carrying a yoke – essentially a portable altar – on their shoulders. Some of the dancers have been pierced with hooks on their backs and have a spear pricked through their cheeks. It has a more extreme side which is evident in countries like Malaysia and Singapore where it’s not just cheeks which are pierced. There the entire body is punctured with tiny hooks that hold up the highly-embellished yokes, usually decorated with peacock feathers and weighing up to 66lbs. Devotees claim to experience no pain and it is said that they enter a trance-like state that elevates them from physical discomfort. And despite the gaping holes, they do not bleed from their piercings and have wounds that heal perfectly, leaving no scars.