The annual Indonesian festival of Adhi Maha Puja sees Hindu devotees pierce their cheeks and backs with metal hooks and rods as they worship their gods.

Footage filmed on August 2, south of Medan shows several locals getting their cheeks pierced with a long metal rod as well having numerous hooks attached to their back.

Pastor Matha Riswan said: "On this day we are celebrating Adhi Thiruvila Maha Puja, in which the Hindu community, especially Hindu Tamils, believes that this Adhi month occurs in summer, which was once a ritual in ancient India that we preserve today.

"During the COVID-19 pandemic we continued to carry out but we tried to simplify these activities in order to maintain our togetherness without reducing religious values."

Hindu devotee wears a mask and wash hand by applying health protocols for the COVID-19 coronavirus, as thier offers praying with body pierced during the annual festival of Adhi Maha Puja in Shri Karumariammen Koil, Deli Serdang, North Sumatra, Indonesia on August 2, 2020.

Dozens of Hindu devotees offer prayers and fulfill their vows by several forms of body piercing and fasting as they worship their gods to purify themselves. The celebration is history for Indian-ethnic Tamil descent in Indonesia. This ritual has become the meaning and purpose of the southern Indian state, which commemorates summer and presents to the goddess Amma Karummari Amma, who is believed in the Tamil calendar.

Interview of the pastor Matha Riswan, On this day we are celebrating Adhi Thiruvila Maha Puja, in which the Hindu community, especially Hindu Tamils, believes that this Adhi month occurs in summer, which was once a ritual in ancient India that we preserve today. Adhi is the name of the month in Tamil celebrated on July 16 to August 16, exactly one month, while Thiruvila is a celebration, so especially in Shri Karumariammen Koil, Deli Serdang, every year we carry out this Adhi Thiruvila. During the Covid-19 pandemic we continued to carry out but we tried to simplify these activities in order to maintain our togetherness without reducing religious values.


Footage Kartik Byma/AID_Official