Not quite sure if rosaries and hot coals are at the same level of penance, but it's the only way I can comprehend why Hindus willing choose to walk on hot coals. I learned of the coal walking here in Sri Lanka last week and thought I would have to wait some time before witnessing it. I was extremely excited when I received an invitation to attend the ceremony today. There seems to be festivals galore happening at the moment in Batti without a clue why. The rituals of these festivals range from the mundane to the exotic. Some even border on the grotesque. My friend told me she nearly fell off her bike earlier today when she saw a procession of palm trees moving down the road...as she got closer she noticed there was a man dangling upside down hung by rings inserted into the skin on his back.Now that's something you don't see everyday. I think I actually would have fallen off the bike.
To be honest, I do not understand Hinduism-there are just so many Gods to know and ways in which to pay respects for which no one seems to be able to explain it to me. The other day my driver pulled off the road as we drove by a temple and he then put ashes on the hood of the car. I remember being in Nepal and my friend's wife telling me to wear green in the summer time because that was the God Shiva's time to rule and green was her favorite color. But I'm not sure what happens if you don't do these things...or if you forget? Something I do understand is that you must be born into it-you can't convert. The only other religion that has this rule for which I'm familiar is the Druze of Lebanon and again, I don't understand that religion either.
So it's no surprise that I'm still confused about why I just witnessed 6,000 people walk on the coals. Some you could clearly see the pain on their face while other seemed as if it did not bother them. There was one woman who actually strutted across the coals and then immediately fell down in pain convulsing afterwards. No one could accurately explain why they did it. From what I gathered, people make a contract with a God and if they succeed in walking on the coals then their debt is paid. The way I understand it that it's somewhat similar to the penance a Catholic may have to do for their sins...though 10 Hail Marys pales in comparison to the physical act of walking on hot coals.
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| Coals prepared for the walk |
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| Coals before the event |
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| Preparing the coals for the walk |
The lead up to the actual walk was more entertaining than the walking itself. Prior to the walk, the coals had to be fanned, smooted and then surrounded by incense and flower petals. The crowd preparing for the walk were decorated in different colors and some had face paint. They carried leaves that some were stuffing inside their clothes...and they kept taking baths in preparations for the walk. We would sit and wait, then we would hear drums beating and everyone in the crowd started chanting and then the coal walkers appeared in a procession and looked out of there minds...some ran in circles while others seriously looked as if they were in a trance of some sort thrashing their head side to side. Then they started walking...one by one they walked calmly and quickly across the coals. No one yelled, they just walked. It was amazing in that children as young as 4 and old as 80 did it. Some carried their children. The entire distance they walked was approximately 10 fee from what I could see. After they walked they either continued to walk calmly or as other did they ran for water to be dumped on them. One woman fell right over afterwards.
Oddly enough, just as the actual walking began, the battery of my camera died-literally as the first man stepped onto the coals. I was unable to capture all the people walking, which numbered between 6-8,000 and lasted for nearly 3 hours. Though I could embellish this story with some mysticism by telling you that it must have been some divine intervention by a Hindu God...well don't believe this is the case. Instead it grabbing my camera as I ran out the door without knowing if the battery was fully charged, which I'll make sure of next time.
