Hindu devotees have marked the annual Panguni Uthiram festival by piercing their bodies with needles and spikes, as an act of penance.

Footage from April 5 filmed in Kalapet, Tamil Nadu, shows the devotees suspended in the air with sharp hooks piercing the skin on their backs,

The festival is celebrated in Murugan Temples across India, Srilanka, Singapore, and Malaysia to commemorate the divine marriage of several deities, including Lord Murugan.

Worshippers walk for miles, carrying offerings and milk pots, and the piercing is believed to demonstrate their devotion and willingness to endure pain for their faith. Despite its shocking nature, devotees believe the practice is a powerful expression of Hindu culture and religion.

Hundreds of Hindu devotees pierce their bodies with numerous needles and spikes as marks of penance for their wishes to be fulfilled during the Panguni Uthiram festival. The festival is celebrated annually during the full moon of the Tamil month of Panguni, which takes place in the month of March means the “Full Moon of Divine Marriages.” During the festival,

On the day of Panguni Uthiram, Hundreds of thousands of devotees throng at the temples of Lord Muruga. Devotees walk over several miles on foot as a mark of their devotion to Lord Muruga with many of them seen carrying milk pots and a set up called Kavadi on their shoulders and heads carrying some objects to be offered at the temple.

The body piercing, hooking, and hanging from cranes are similar to the vegetarian festival in Thailand. The festival is celebrated in Murugan Temples all over India, Srilanka, Singapore, and Malaysia. This festival is important to Hindus, as it commemorates the marriage of several deities including Parvati, Parameshwaran, Lord Murugan, and Deivanai.