Every seven years in the town of Nocera Terinese, Italy, a mysterious rite hundreds of years old still takes place to this day. On Good Friday, Flagellants from the surrounding villages perform the ritual of the battenti. In this tradition, the participants embed shards of glass in pieces of cork, then forcefully drive the makeshift scourges into their bare legs. Bleeding, they jog the route
![Flagellants of Nocera Terinese - 1960's](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/45ca1775d2feca0a7c3bfafbde5ff2b544f7c0f5/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FaCeXiayJvFw%2Fhqdefault.jpg)