Not all that secret, actually. Quite the public spectacle in Pampanga in the Philippines each Easter, and some other places as well. Probably got images and video on the web; and I seem to recall it pictured in a Nat’l Geographic, too.
Shame on you, Jorge. You’ve been around long enough to know to post a link to the column you’re referencing. And in this case, I can’t figure out what column you’re referring to, so I can’t post it for you.
Me neither. Must be a new column not yet posted on-line. Or something that’s in one of the books, also not on-line.
For a depiction of medieval flagellants, watch “The Seventh Seal”. The flagellants look realistic, and downright disturbing. But in the middle of a plague, when you have no knowledge of disease vectors, self-flagellation must have looked better than doing nothing at all.
Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site, or mention where you have seen the column (and the title of the column) if it’s not on the website.
Cecil’s column can be found on-line at the link supplied by bibliophage.
moderator, «Comments on Cecil’s Columns» **
[opprobrium]Sorry I missed the protocol there, gang. Read the column bibliophage kindly cited for me in the Honolulu Weekly that morning; responded that night, been thinking just of web cites for the flagellation rites, and blew it. Been looking for them web images, too, and hadn’t found them yet…[/opprobrium]
[whack]
You are forgiven.
[whack]
Go in peace.
[whack]
[whack]
Cecil’s answer was (on the whole) spot on, as usual, but I have one minor quibble:
While Islamic fundies are awfully grim types, self-flagellation is wayyy outside the bounds of what they would consider doing. The fundies are a rather dour sort who would never go for anything so exotic.
This is probably a garbled report of certain Sufi ascetics who inflict wounds on themselves during their esoteric rituals. However, it isn’t flagellation that they practice; they employ long sharp steel spikes to pierce their flesh (and for the more advanced adepts, sabers). Their motive for this is not that of medieval Christians, as in The Seventh Seal, penance for sins and mortification of the flesh and all that. It is to demonstrate the occult power of their rituals: the ability to pierce themselves through and instantly heal miraculously with no permanent damage.
There is a story about the taking of Constantinople by Ottoman forces in 1453. Some dervish shock troops trained in this method were scaling the walls. The Byzantine defenders showered arrows and spears on them. They continued scaling the walls with the arrows and spears sticking out of them as if nothing had happened. The Byzantines became terrified at the sight and fled.
I heard a professor of Sufism describing one ritual he witnessed in remote mountains of Kurdistan. One dervish used a sword to cut right through his abdomen. Fat and blood and guts and everything were visible on the sword blade. Then he healed up in a few minutes.
Um, I can’t find anything about this aspect of Sufism on the Web. Using words like Sufi, dervish, ascetic, Kurdistan, sword, wound, mutilation, in various combinations, doesn’t bring up anything on Google that says, “Sufi ascetics stab themselves and then miraculously heal the wounds.”
Cite, please. 
Here are two websites debunking the Philippine witch doctors who do the trick with the chicken guts and the folded abdominal skin while supposedly performing stomach surgery on people. It sounds like a similar sleight of hand trick. It’s called “psychic surgery”.
http://www.bccancer.bc.ca/uct/psychicsurgery.shtml
**
And, um, Cecil? I can’t find anything under Islamic, fundamentalist, flagellants, self-flagellation, Shi’ite, fundamentalism, flagellation, either. I see a few websites that link the Shi’ites and self-flagellation, but they are all outside observers. I don’t see any official Shi’ite website that says, “Yes, we advocate self-flagellation.”
All I can find is this, “Islamic fundamentalist sect” search within results, add “flagellation”.
http://www.usis.usemb.se/human/human95/saudiara.htm
This http://isfahan.anglia.ac.uk:8200/oldsite/glossary/shiia/shiia1.html doesn’t mention it at all.
Cite, please, Unc.
Actually, use of “the discipline” is not unknown in contemporary Xtian monastic circles. As far as I know (but my knowledge is third-hand – trustworthy third-hand, but still third-hand – partial, and a few decades old), anything taken to the point of injury is forbidden, and permission is required from a superior, who is expected to say “No” (and order counseling) if there is any suspicion of masochism.
“But how can it not be masochism?” you say? Well, I’m not a Religious, myself, so I really don’t want to go too far into this. But here’s an old joke, that comes nicely to hand as an allegory.
A guy from the city wanted to get back to the land (cf. Green Acres), so he bought an old farm, and started in to run it. Since he was a bit of an extremist on “old ways”, he even went to the next farm over to buy a mule. “Friend,” said the farmer, “I guess you couldn’t do better than ol’ Hank, here. He’s just about the smartest mule I ever knew. Why, he probably knows more about farmin’ than you do. Just say, ‘Gee-up!’, and he’ll start right off.”
Well, bright and early the next morning, our hero hitched up the mule to the plow, and cried out a hearty, “Gee-up!” Nothing happened. Again he tried, “Gee-up!” but the mule just stood there. Well, he finally got fed up, and went off to talk to his neighbor.
“This mule you sold me is just no good at all. I say, ‘Gee-up!’ and the darned thing just stands there!”
“Well, let’s see,” said the farmer, and back they went to the new guy’s place. “I see you’re rebuilding the hen house,” he said. “Can you just hand me that two-by-four?” He took possession of the board, wound up, and delivered a tremendous THWACK! to the mule’s backside. “Gee-up!” he said, and the mule obediently started pulling the plow, with the old farmer guiding it, and the city slicker following the farmer.
“Ye see,” said the old man, “Hank’s a fine mule. You just have to git his attention.”
You’ll have to take my word for it, because my cite is that I was present once at a ceremony when that happened. The beginners put the spikes through their cheeks. The senior adept, an old dervish from Kosovo, used a sword on himself. I saw the steel go right through the flesh, but there was no blood.
The Shiites flagellate themselves during the Muharram rites, with special flails. This is not a "fundamentalist" practice, but a traditional popular rite that goes back centuries. (Fundamentalism was only invented in the 20th century.) The fundamentalists who rule Iran tried to discourage the practice, but they haven't succeeded in stopping it. There is a difference between this and the dervish self-mutilation. The Shiites aim to draw blood–lots of it. Some of them use knives and swords to stab themselves in the temples, a good place to cut if you want to bleed profusely. They wind up drenched in their own blood. This is done for emotional effect.
The dervishes pierce themselves in an altered state of consciousness brought on by their esoteric rituals. Their blood does not flow and their wounds heal rapidly. They demonstrate the power of mind over matter this way. There is no trickery; I have seen it happen right in front of me. The name of this specific dervish group is Rifai. If you search on "rifai" or “rifai” you’ll come up with more info.
I have also been present at the Tamil ritual of taipucam where devotees stab blades through their faces and tongues. They also pierce their flesh all over their backs and chests with hooks from which limes are suspended or to which a heavy structure is attached and they carry it for miles in procession. Again, there is no blood. They put themselves into a trance state before beginning, having spent days purifying themselves through fasting and prayer. Their motive is different from the flagellants and dervishes: they do this in fulfillment of vows made to the god Murukan.
http://forumhub.com/tnhistory/13533.18.07.20.html
These mystical/heroic practices of self-mutilation are sort of like the Sun Dance of the Plains Indians. I have not been privileged to witness a Sun Dance myself, but people I know have. The braves pierce through the breast muscles and insert wooden pegs to which long thongs are attached, the other end tied to the central pole. They dance for hours looking into the sun, until the pegs rip out through their muscles and they collapse to the ground unconscious.
Here is one cite on the Rifa`iyyah:
http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/islam/sufi/rifa.html
Another link – you can see the ritual for yourself on video:
http://www.isc.lsi.fsu.edu/V070759.htm
This page comes with a pic
http://www.d-net-sales.com/films/dnet021.htm
[gulp]
Um, thanks for the cites.
I think.
Makes the Pentecostal “holy rollers” look pretty tame. Next time I see somebody get slain in the Spirit, I’ll be glad that at least she isn’t sticking herself with a knife.
There is a historic picture in one of my books about New Mexico showing Penitentes whipping themselves. The Penitentes are a somewhat secret religious group who are still active here, and in the past they would rope each other up on crosses for short periods of time (stories of actual crucifixions haven’t been proven, I don’t think). My clerk has two uncles who belong to this sect.
My parents lived in the Philipines for several years in the early 70’s. According to my mother, there was a festival every year where selected believers would crucify themselves and walk from village to village dragging the cross. There were also self-flagellants in the processions.
I’ve see this ceremony in Bahrain where the population is around 90% Shia and the remainder Suni Muslim. The parades are led by a man on horseback and the troops cut themselves with (fairly dull) swords on the forehead so the blood will run down their faces and onto their chests. The remainder use a branched whip made of what looks like multiple sections of dog choke-chains and flog themselves over alternating shoulders. The guys (they’re ALL guys) hurting themselves are glassy-eyed and chanting while they stumble along. I ran into this by accident while I lived there. It is a gruesome ritual, very hot, with choking clouds of dust and the smell of fresh blood. These guys are somewhat volatile at the time and REALLY dislike anyone hanging around that isn’t participating. No cameras are allowed and they would prefer you to just stay away.
All the best.
Testy.