tered states of conciseness were able to over come this by the shaman merely blowing his breath into the ear of the troubled ritual participant. The men then possessed the souls of the army of horses of the ancient tale. The ritual continued while the members of the ceremony continued to act as if they were indeed horses, eating straw as well as rose petals. Other men would whip the men as the horses would have been whipped during the time of the battle. Unlike the true horses, however, the men felt no physical pain, this immunity was a result of the deep transient state that the men were in. The film then went on to describe a man who was induced to be a normal town person. However, during the ritual that same man was ripping apart the skin of a coconut with his bare teeth, an act that would have destroyed his teeth if not in the trance. Another man, a carpenter, normal by most eyes, had safety pins placed through his cheeks and lips then continued to act as if he was a horse. The participants were then shown to dance through fire with no pain and no harm coming to their feet. The power of the shaman was said to protect the feet of the participants. Then the act of rolling across broken glass was depicted which also brought no pain to those who rolled across it. This in itself was very symbolic of many things. This they believe represented the insanity of those who defied the Islamic rule, and the fact that they were not injured symbolized the protection of the Islamic gods. Like dreams, the trance leaves a mark on the pyscye however the participants remember little if anything of the actual acts they took part in. At the end of the ritual the shaman brings those who were transformed into horse back into their original souls and states of mind.These lessons of ancient history is not left for the adults of the culture, the children also share in the events of the day. Instead of learning lessons from movies or television,...
