Tamil Hindus celebrate the Ayyappan Ther Thiruvizha Festival

Tamil Hindu devotees with facial skewers and hooks piercing the flesh of their backs that are pulled by ropes perform the Kavadi Attam dance during the Ayyappan Ther Thiruvizha Festival at a Tamil Hindu temple in Ontario, Canada., on July 21, 2019.The Kavadi Attam dance a ceremonial sacrifice and offering practiced by Tamil Hindu devotees during worship. The kavadi ('burden') itself is a physical burden, the bearing of which is used by the devotee to implore God for assistance, usually on behalf of a loved one who is in need of healing, or as a means of balancing a spiritual debt.