Where do men with burns roam around India (6 photos + 1 video)

In Indonesia, there are good fights in honor of the god of war - people fight with brooms made of leaves. But in India I didn’t get hurt – I celebrated poorly. That’s why Indians hit each other with burning sticks during the Agni Keli festival.





Fire fight in Manalora

Every year, a festival called Fire Fight, i.e. Agni Keli, is held near the Kathil Durga Parameshwari Temple.

For 8 days in a row in April, hundreds of people line up in processions and honor the fire. And at the end of the celebrations, men wearing only pants throw burning bunches of palm leaves at each other and beat each other with burning sticks.



Do you see burns on men's backs?

The spectacle attracts thousands of spectators from all over the country. For the main battle, men line up opposite each other in two lines at a distance of 10-15 meters.

They are all given several burning torches, usually made from palm branches. And on command, everyone begins to throw torches at each other. According to the rules, you can throw only 5 torches and hit as many people as possible from the opponents.





In the dark everything is bright, but sometimes it’s chaotic, who is on whom

Those who miss are very upset. After all, they wasted their chances to please the goddess, they came almost in vain.

Were there any deaths?

They say they were. In any case, some Hindus with severe burns can honestly tell you that they earned this scar at the Agni Keli festival. So don’t rush to suspect a tragedy and a fire; most likely, he himself agreed to it.



Massacre

The fire fight lasts no more than half an hour, during which one participant’s pants or skirt will certainly catch fire. Although they already take off their shirts so as not to catch fire. But in the end they are extinguished with holy water and sent for treatment.

Burns are not considered a bad thing, as Goddess Durga is believed to have enjoyed the fire fight. And if you get injured, then it counts towards entertainment. And you're great.

Durga is a multi-armed goddess of war with a different weapon in each hand. That’s why she is pleased with any kind of fights, so they fight in her honor on other holidays. But they fight with burning torches only once a year.



She also has a snake as a weapon, which means poisons

There is also a holiday in India when everyone throws stones at each other. And comparing... I don’t even know which is worse. Die on the spot from a stone hitting the head, or receive burns of varying degrees.



You can only wear a lungi skirt to reduce the chances of catching fire.

Hopefully we're in the last generation where self-harm festivals like this are still popular. Even if this becomes history, it’s still more creepy to look at it live than interesting and exotic.