Dang Gi

I just recently saw the strangest sight I have ever seen.
I was riding my scooter down Ximen Road toward the largest shopping mall in Tainan. This is probably the highest-class area of Tainan, with all the tallest buildings and the financial centers. As I approached a big intersection, I came up on a line of stopped cars, with a green light ahead. Not wanting to wait, I scooted around them. As I came up to the intersection, I heard the familiar sounds of drumming and electric horns - the telltale signs of a temple parade/event. Then I saw what was holding the cars up. Standing on the crosswalk was a group of about 15-20 guys. Most of them were wearing white T-shirts and black pants and about 5 were shirtless. The shirtless guys were motionless and had red paint on their faces and chests. They were all posed, as though re-enacting some kind of drama (as are common in Taiwanese temple celebrations). Some of the shirtless dudes were being propped up by the other guys - sort of like they were resting. Then, the drumming and the horn blasts got more frenzied and one of the shirtless guys started dancing around wildly, brandishing a stone-age looking wooden club. After dancing around for a bit, he stopped and began swinging the club madly at and around his head. My first thought was:
Boy, he should be careful, he's almost hitting his head.
Then I heard the unmistakenable THWUNK THWUNK sound of wood hitting bone.
Holy crap, he IS hitting himself!!
It was then I looked closer and saw that what I thought was paint was actually blood ... a lot of blood. All 5 of the shirtless guys had a giant smear of blood on their chests, arms, and head, including a puddle around where they were standing. Each of them had a gnarly looking wound on the top of their skulls. The guy I saw bludgeoning himself had a scalp that looked like it had been through this sort of torture several times before.
The reactions of the Taiwanese around me were mixed. Some of the younger people looked sickened/horrified/startled but there was at least one guy with the annoyed look of someone waiting to cross the street.
I later asked Judy about this. She told me that they are called dang gi in Taiwanese. They beat themselves (and several other forms of violence - cutting of the tongue with a knife, etc) to prove that they are in communication and/or possessed by a deity. The thinking goes that if they are able to maim themselves in this way and not die then they must be possessed. Either that, or in serious need of a neurosurgeon.

(Sorry, no pictures. As usual, I wasn't carrying my camera around when I actually needed it. But, you probably wouldn't want to see it anyway.)