Now, when I read of odd (to me) things that people do for religion, I often end up just shrugging my shoulders and thinking, “Well, whatever floats your boat.” I realize that people take comfort in their rituals, and I respect that.
Then I stumbled on this today.
Yesterday was “Ashoura Day” - the anniversary of the death of a Shiite Muslim saint named Imam Hussein. To observe this, the men slash their foreheads with a knife and then proceed to whack themselves in the forehead with said knife to get the blood all over the place. At this point I am thinking this is decidedly strange, but hey, it’s their religion.
Then I got to this:
People take their children to hairdresser who ritually slashes the children’s forehead with a razor, and after the blood is spread by hitting the wound.
Now, in the couple pics that I’ve seen, it doesn’t look like it’s just a little ceremonial nick on the forehead. A bunch of adults running around doing this is fine, but the idea of parents doing this to their own kids on purpose makes my stomach turn.
Warning: There is quite a bit of blood in these pics and may be upsetting.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030313/168/3i6a7.html
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030313/170/3i5ek.html
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030313/168/3i6de.html
I do try to be tolerant and respectful of religious practices. I’m having a lot of trouble doing that with this one. :(
