Ritual pain: sensation, representation and self-presentation in the fire-walking ritual of La Réunion, Indian Ocean

Abstract

ABSTRACT During the Hindu fire-walking festival in La Réunion, practitioners “feel the fire”, an expression which refers to feelings of pain. Yet in this religious milieu, pain is a subject which is circumvented outside the immediate family circle even if pain is necessary to validate the ritual experience. This article abjures the prevailing medical materialist approaches to the analysis and explanation of how fire-walking is possible. It focusses instead on the ways of feeling and living pain from the fire-walkers’ own points of view. The concept of edgework is introduced, which refers to voluntary risk-taking activities that navigate the edges that exist between cultural boundaries and also push personal boundaries (due to the endangerment of the person). During this ritual, and through pain, practitioners sculpt a new perception of themselves and of their world. It is shown that pain, when chosen and mastered such as in fire-walking, is not only world-shattering but also life-enhancing. When pain arises from a ritual act, as herein, it can become a tool to fight suffering, to discipline oneself, to better know oneself, and, it even allows an individual to experience happiness.