Self-flagellation

Historically, Christians have engaged in various forms of mortification of the flesh, ranging from self-denial, wearing hairshirts and chains, fasting, and self-flagellation (often using a type of whip called a discipline).

[10] In the 11th century, Peter Damian, a Benedictine monk in the Roman Catholic tradition, taught that spirituality should manifest itself in physical discipline; he admonished those who sought to follow Christ to practice self-flagellation for the duration of the time it takes one to recite forty Psalms, increasing the number of flagellations on holy days of the Christian calendar.

Japanese of the time who were converted to Christianity by Jesuit missionaries were reported to have had sympathy for the Passion of the Christ, and they readily practiced self-flagellation to show their devotion.

[14] Some of them interpret Paul the Apostle as alluding to inflicting bodily harm in order to feel closer to God in his letters to the Romans and to the Colossians.

[14] The popularity of self-flagellation has abated, with some pious Christians choosing to practice the mortification of the flesh with acts like fasting or abstaining from a pleasure (cf.

[16] Some Jewish men practice a symbolic form of self-flagellation on the day before Yom Kippur as an enactment; it is strictly prohibited in Judaism to cause self-harm.

[17] However, since biblical times Judaism has largely considered Yom Kippur as a day of spiritual atonement achieved through fasting, introspection, and other interpretations of the commandment "afflict your souls" that do not involve bodily self-harm.

This ritual of matam is meant to reaffirm one's faith and relationships by creating a deep bond among the participants through their shared religious devotion.

[19] Many Shia communities worldwide march in massive parades every year on the Day of Ashura, during the mourning of Muharram, to commemorate the Battle of Karbala and the martyrdom of Imam Hussein.

This happens in many countries including India, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, United States,[20] and Australia.

In 2008, a prominent court case involving a resident of the UK town of Eccles, who was accused of encouraging his children to self-flagellate, provoked widespread condemnation of the practice.