Shi'ite's Muslims

Muslims
Most of the world is Sunni, but in Iran and some places in Pakistan you can find the Shi'ites.
I found them in a small village 35KM outside of Lahore.

A brown man with a black beard dressed in a black robe preached Islam to a crowd of followers. They sat on a carpet and everyone was surrounded by a technicolored tent.
I arrived early and was given some tea in a small room while waiting. There a man showed me scars on his back from the last festival. Today they would be using their hands to beat themselves, six months ago they used knives.

Just before the sun began to set the procession began. Young men about twenty years old began removing their shirts. Most of them had deep pink scars etched across their backs. The lined up side by side in lines. As they stood facing each other a group of men started singing. Behind them the Shi'ite Flag was raised by two men. To the side, where I stood, was a shrine carried by four men. Inside was a babies shirt that was splattered with blood. This festival, and the pain they were about to suffer, was to commemorate their forefathers who suffered from horrible acts of martyrdom.

The singing continued and the men prepared. The beating started slow at first. They raised their hands and brought them down softly upon their chests. The singers raised their voices and the men raised their hands. The singing quickened and the thumps got louder. They beat themselves with no flinches, shouts, or cries of pain. I watched as blood began to mix with sweat and slide down their chests. Their shouts were suttle, meaningful, and deep. Some of them moved into a trance.
Over and over their bloody palms would raise up into the air and come crashing down against their chest while they chanted Islamic verses. The village was quiet. Nobody smiled. None of the children played. Everyone watched and most people silently said the words being sung.

It was a moving, disturbing, and yet somehow beautiful experience.