In India, you can still become a god, or you can lose an arm (8 photos)
In Kerala, India, there is a festival called Onam, where the center of the festival is always the ritual of worshiping Theyyam. In essence, it is the process of turning a person into a deity during a cruel dance. 
Looks like old drawings of gods
During this dance, the performer can get burns, wounds, and even lose a limb, but will not interrupt it, because this will stop the ritual of cleansing the body to accept divine filling.
How to dance this Theyyam
It is mainly men who dance it (but there are women too, if they are strong enough, it is really hard). So usually women are traditionally the keepers of knowledge about the fidelity of rituals, about how to "confine" the deity in the body. 
The dancer passes through an arch with burning logs
All the Theyyam dancers dress in bright "divine" costumes and paint their faces to look more like those scary Indian gods from old drawings. Usually the dancers are men from marginalized castes and tribal communities, in which the belief in the reality of what is happening is still very strong. 
Some costumes make you giggle
The Theyyam season in Kerala usually runs from November to April, coinciding with the post-monsoon and winter months (when there is less work, meaning people have nothing to do in the villages). During this time, many temples and family estates, especially in the northern districts of Kerala like Kannur and Kasaragod, put on performances, putting forward their "vessel for the deity". 
It is important to apply the correct design so that the god recognizes "himself" by the face and visits this shell
Since every village wants the god to visit someone local, about a thousand Theyyam performances are held every year in family estates and temples all over Kerala. First of all, they walk on fire (burning branches or coals), dip their hands in hot coals, while singing occult songs and can even give a prophecy in ecstasy. 
The dancer's skin was set on fire, but he must continue to dance
In essence, all this torment is a demonstration of great devotion to the deities, so that they consider such faith worthy. There is no way without fire, because it is the main means for cleansing our mortal body for a god. And as a result of such a crazy dance, the artist eventually turns into the deity being performed (usually a warrior-hunter, a tiger protector, or even Kali). 
A dancer is in a fit of divine ecstasy
Each image of a deity is thought out to be as similar as possible to the one that the Hindus know from legends. How else will the deity find this vessel and visit it if the vessel does not look like it? Logical. 
This costume is my respect, even I, if I were a god, would descend into such a vessel
At the end of the dance, you can shake hands, thank, congratulate or praise the dancer, even if he is covered in burns, and it is believed that what you say, you say directly to Kali. So you need to be more modest in your words and requests, as Santa Claus is not accepted to overwhelm with requests a dancer who has just danced painfully. 
The woman is shocked to the depths of her soul by touching the deity (note the fake breasts!)
By the way, this is largely where the stereotype that all yogis in India walk on hot coals comes from. It's just that earlier such dances in honor of Kali could be seen everywhere, so foreigners were impressed by the "acts of devotion."
