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Hey everyone! I'm Gotham Chopra and this is Holy Facts, the show where we take you on
a tour of the weirder side of religion and spirituality, from *** ceremonies to sacred
cats. On this episode we’re diving back into our most popular and gruesome topic from
season one and taking another look at how far some people are willing to go to show
they’ve got the spirit. These folks see your devotion and raise you a million percent.
Take, for example, the Catholic devotees in Pampanga, a province in the Philippines. Every
year volunteers gather on Good Friday to recreate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. But this
isn’t your typical reenactment where grown-ups run around in costume and play make-believe
for a few hours.
These folks go all the way, driving real nails through their real hands and feet before being
hung up on real crosses where they stay for several real minutes. I guess they missed
the message about Jesus dying on the cross so the rest of us didn’t have to.
Other Good Friday celebrants walk the streets wearing black hoods and beating their own
backs with whips. Participants don’t take painkillers, probably because that would ruin
all the fun of beating yourself until you bleed.
If that’s not hardcore enough for you, at the Grishneshwar Temple in India, both Hindus
and Muslims participate in a 700-year-old ceremony where babies are thrown from atop
a tower. After falling some 50 feet, the babies are caught in blankets by men waiting below.
The practice is believed to make the babies healthier and happier. Because if there’s
one thing that makes babies happy and healthy, it’s … sleeping! Sleeping was the right
answer. Though baby-tossing was banned in 2011, it made a comeback in 2012 and participants
argue that it’s their religious duty to attend the ceremonies.
And Indians aren’t the only ones who use babies to prove their devotion. American members
of the “Quiverfull” movement, like the Bates Family of Tennessee, believe children
are a blessing from God, and having dozens of children means dozens of blessings. The
Bates’s sectional sofa, however, disagrees and kindly suggests it’s had enough and
can handle no more children. These requests have been ignored, and most other ardent members
of the movement believe in forgoing all types of birth control and leaving their family
planning in God’s hands, as if He didn’t have enough to worry about.
But in other parts of the world, devotion doesn’t mean acquiring more possessions
or more children, it means giving up absolutely everything, down to your socks and skivvies.
Monks in the Jainist sect of Digambara go totally nude 24/7 to prove that they’re
so devoted to a higher calling, they don’t care if they’re cold or wet or shocking
the neighbors. The monks’ only possessions are a water gourd and a peacock feather broom.
We’re not sure what the feather broom is for, but my guess is tickle fights. Although
it’s extreme, it’s probably nice in the summer months in India to only have to worry
about sweating through your prayer beads.
Does the intensity of the ritual really correlate to the intensity of faith? And why are some
people driven to such extreme measures to show they’re devoted? Seriously, I need
to understand this. Please comment and educate, or upload a response video and let me know
what you think.