"sharp blades"

#12526618

3 Jul 2025

Children and young men take part in a march wearing traditional costumes inspired by the Battle of Karbala, carrying burlap-wrapped water skins symbolizing the sacrifice of Abbas, who was martyred while trying to bring water to Hussein's children, in Baghdad, Iraq, on July 3, 2025

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#7334048

4 Nov 2021

Rajasthani Kalbelia dancer performs a traditional dance while standing on the blades of swords in Marwar, Rajasthan, India.

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#1738101

17 Feb 2017

Tamil Hindu devotee performing the para-kavadi ritual as he sits on large sharp blades and is bounced up and down as an act of penance during the Vinayagar Ther Thiruvizha Festival in Ontario, Canada. Devotees prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer, celibacy and fasting for 11 to 25 days before the festival. During this religious festival several devotees show their devotion by making offerings and by piercing their bodies with metal hooks and skewers.

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#1738102

17 Feb 2017

Tamil Hindu devotee performing the para-kavadi ritual as he sits on large sharp blades and is bounced up and down as an act of penance during the Vinayagar Ther Thiruvizha Festival in Ontario, Canada. Devotees prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer, celibacy and fasting for 11 to 25 days before the festival. During this religious festival several devotees show their devotion by making offerings and by piercing their bodies with metal hooks and skewers.

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#1738103

17 Feb 2017

Tamil Hindu devotee performing the para-kavadi ritual as he sits on large sharp blades and is bounced up and down as an act of penance during the Vinayagar Ther Thiruvizha Festival in Ontario, Canada. Devotees prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer, celibacy and fasting for 11 to 25 days before the festival. During this religious festival several devotees show their devotion by making offerings and by piercing their bodies with metal hooks and skewers.

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#1738107

17 Feb 2017

Tamil Hindu devotee performing the para-kavadi ritual as he sits on large sharp blades and is bounced up and down as an act of penance during the Vinayagar Ther Thiruvizha Festival in Ontario, Canada. Devotees prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer, celibacy and fasting for 11 to 25 days before the festival. During this religious festival several devotees show their devotion by making offerings and by piercing their bodies with metal hooks and skewers.

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#1738106

17 Feb 2017

A Tamil Hindu devotee performing the para-kavadi ritual holds a flaming coconut as he sits on large sharp blades and is bounced up and down as an act of penance during the Vinayagar Ther Thiruvizha Festival in Ontario, Canada. Devotees prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer, celibacy and fasting for 11 to 25 days before the festival. During this religious festival several devotees show their devotion by making offerings and by piercing their bodies with metal hooks and skewers.

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#1738105

17 Feb 2017

Tamil Hindu devotees performing the para-kavadi ritual during the Vinayagar Ther Thiruvizha Festival in Ontario, Canada. One devotee is sits on large sharp blades and is bounced up and down while another devotee is suspended by hooks in his back and legs as an act of penance. Devotees prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer, celibacy and fasting for 11 to 25 days before the festival. During this religious festival several devotees show their devotion by making offerings and by piercing their bodies with metal hooks and skewers.

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#1738104

17 Feb 2017

The wife of a Tamil Hindu devotee performing the para-kavadi ritual kneels in prayer on the pavement in front of her husband as he is suspended by metal hooks in his back and legs as an act of penance during the Vinayagar Ther Thiruvizha Festival in Ontario, Canada. Devotees prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer, celibacy and fasting for 11 to 25 days before the festival. During this religious festival several devotees show their devotion by making offerings and by piercing their bodies with metal hooks and skewers.

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#921378

22 Nov 2015

It is East Timor, one of the world's youngest nations, blood thirsty national sport and a scene replicated throughout the tiny nation every afternoon around 5pm. Father and son take their prize birds to duel with their neighbours and folk from surrounding districts. Thousands of dollars change hands in a country were $5USD is the daily wage. In every match there is only one winner; the loser becomes someone's dinner. A match may take anything from a few seconds to several minutes... the 3 inch razor sharp blades tied to the cock’s legs ensure fights are decisive and death assured… there is only ever one winner and the loser is dispatched unceremoniously to the dinner table. But even the hardest man would have to admit it’s a sad sport. You only have to look at the faces of the young boys and the worry settling on their small faces as their “pets” enter the ring… chances are they’ll be taking them home… for dinner. .. Or, if they are lucky their bird might win a few fights but death for these proud fighting birds is inevitable… But as Ernest Hemingway said: "People say it's cruel, but what the hell does a fighting cock like to do?"

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#921379

22 Nov 2015

It is East Timor, one of the world's youngest nations, blood thirsty national sport and a scene replicated throughout the tiny nation every afternoon around 5pm. Father and son take their prize birds to duel with their neighbours and folk from surrounding districts. Thousands of dollars change hands in a country were $5USD is the daily wage. In every match there is only one winner; the loser becomes someone's dinner. A match may take anything from a few seconds to several minutes... the 3 inch razor sharp blades tied to the cock’s legs ensure fights are decisive and death assured… there is only ever one winner and the loser is dispatched unceremoniously to the dinner table. But even the hardest man would have to admit it’s a sad sport. You only have to look at the faces of the young boys and the worry settling on their small faces as their “pets” enter the ring… chances are they’ll be taking them home… for dinner. .. Or, if they are lucky their bird might win a few fights but death for these proud fighting birds is inevitable… But as Ernest Hemingway said: "People say it's cruel, but what the hell does a fighting cock like to do?"

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#921384

22 Nov 2015

It is East Timor, one of the world's youngest nations, blood thirsty national sport and a scene replicated throughout the tiny nation every afternoon around 5pm. Father and son take their prize birds to duel with their neighbours and folk from surrounding districts. Thousands of dollars change hands in a country were $5USD is the daily wage. In every match there is only one winner; the loser becomes someone's dinner. A match may take anything from a few seconds to several minutes... the 3 inch razor sharp blades tied to the cock’s legs ensure fights are decisive and death assured… there is only ever one winner and the loser is dispatched unceremoniously to the dinner table. But even the hardest man would have to admit it’s a sad sport. You only have to look at the faces of the young boys and the worry settling on their small faces as their “pets” enter the ring… chances are they’ll be taking them home… for dinner. .. Or, if they are lucky their bird might win a few fights but death for these proud fighting birds is inevitable… But as Ernest Hemingway said: "People say it's cruel, but what the hell does a fighting cock like to do?"

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#921385

22 Nov 2015

It is East Timor, one of the world's youngest nations, blood thirsty national sport and a scene replicated throughout the tiny nation every afternoon around 5pm. Father and son take their prize birds to duel with their neighbours and folk from surrounding districts. Thousands of dollars change hands in a country were $5USD is the daily wage. In every match there is only one winner; the loser becomes someone's dinner. A match may take anything from a few seconds to several minutes... the 3 inch razor sharp blades tied to the cock’s legs ensure fights are decisive and death assured… there is only ever one winner and the loser is dispatched unceremoniously to the dinner table. But even the hardest man would have to admit it’s a sad sport. You only have to look at the faces of the young boys and the worry settling on their small faces as their “pets” enter the ring… chances are they’ll be taking them home… for dinner. .. Or, if they are lucky their bird might win a few fights but death for these proud fighting birds is inevitable… But as Ernest Hemingway said: "People say it's cruel, but what the hell does a fighting cock like to do?"

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#921388

22 Nov 2015

It is East Timor, one of the world's youngest nations, blood thirsty national sport and a scene replicated throughout the tiny nation every afternoon around 5pm. Father and son take their prize birds to duel with their neighbours and folk from surrounding districts. Thousands of dollars change hands in a country were $5USD is the daily wage. In every match there is only one winner; the loser becomes someone's dinner. A match may take anything from a few seconds to several minutes... the 3 inch razor sharp blades tied to the cock’s legs ensure fights are decisive and death assured… there is only ever one winner and the loser is dispatched unceremoniously to the dinner table. But even the hardest man would have to admit it’s a sad sport. You only have to look at the faces of the young boys and the worry settling on their small faces as their “pets” enter the ring… chances are they’ll be taking them home… for dinner. .. Or, if they are lucky their bird might win a few fights but death for these proud fighting birds is inevitable… But as Ernest Hemingway said: "People say it's cruel, but what the hell does a fighting cock like to do?"

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#921390

22 Nov 2015

It is East Timor, one of the world's youngest nations, blood thirsty national sport and a scene replicated throughout the tiny nation every afternoon around 5pm. Father and son take their prize birds to duel with their neighbours and folk from surrounding districts. Thousands of dollars change hands in a country were $5USD is the daily wage. In every match there is only one winner; the loser becomes someone's dinner. A match may take anything from a few seconds to several minutes... the 3 inch razor sharp blades tied to the cock’s legs ensure fights are decisive and death assured… there is only ever one winner and the loser is dispatched unceremoniously to the dinner table. But even the hardest man would have to admit it’s a sad sport. You only have to look at the faces of the young boys and the worry settling on their small faces as their “pets” enter the ring… chances are they’ll be taking them home… for dinner. .. Or, if they are lucky their bird might win a few fights but death for these proud fighting birds is inevitable… But as Ernest Hemingway said: "People say it's cruel, but what the hell does a fighting cock like to do?"

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#921391

22 Nov 2015

It is East Timor, one of the world's youngest nations, blood thirsty national sport and a scene replicated throughout the tiny nation every afternoon around 5pm. Father and son take their prize birds to duel with their neighbours and folk from surrounding districts. Thousands of dollars change hands in a country were $5USD is the daily wage. In every match there is only one winner; the loser becomes someone's dinner. A match may take anything from a few seconds to several minutes... the 3 inch razor sharp blades tied to the cock’s legs ensure fights are decisive and death assured… there is only ever one winner and the loser is dispatched unceremoniously to the dinner table. But even the hardest man would have to admit it’s a sad sport. You only have to look at the faces of the young boys and the worry settling on their small faces as their “pets” enter the ring… chances are they’ll be taking them home… for dinner. .. Or, if they are lucky their bird might win a few fights but death for these proud fighting birds is inevitable… But as Ernest Hemingway said: "People say it's cruel, but what the hell does a fighting cock like to do?"

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