Editing Flagellation (section)

==As a religious practice==

[[File:Striding flagellant.jpg|thumb|Self-flagellation is ritually performed in the [[Philippines]] during Holy Week (on [[Good Friday]], before Easter)]]
{{Main|Self-flagellation}}

===Antiquity===
During the [[Ancient Roman religion|Ancient Roman festival]] of [[Lupercalia]], young men ran through the streets with thongs cut from the hide of goats which had just been sacrificed, whipping people with the thongs as they ran. According to [[Plutarch]], women would put themselves in their way to receive blows on the hands, believing that this would help them to conceive or grant them an easy delivery.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Caesar*.html#61 |title=Plutarch: The Life of Julius Caesar (section 61) |publisher=LacusCurtius |accessdate=3 February 2022 |archive-date=13 February 2018 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20180213130122/http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/plutarch/lives/caesar%2A.html#61 |url-status=live }}</ref> The eunuch priests of the goddess [[Cybele]], the ''[[galli]]'', flogged themselves until they bled during the annual festival called [[Dies Sanguinis]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Meyer |first=Marvin W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N2URCb14ShQC&pg=PA114 |title=The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook of Sacred Texts |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-8122-1692-9 |page=114 |access-date=3 February 2022 |archive-date=25 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125105420/https://books.google.com/books?id=N2URCb14ShQC&pg=PA114#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> The initiation ceremonies of [[Greco-Roman mysteries|Greco-Roman mystery religions]] also sometimes involved ritual flagellation, as did the [[Sparta]]n cult of [[Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia|Artemis Orthia]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Braunlein |first=Peter J. |chapter=Flagellation |editor-last1=Melton |editor-first1=J. G. |editor-last2=Baumann |editor-first2=M. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v2yiyLLOj88C&pg=PA1119 |title=Religions of the World |date=2010 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-59884-204-3 |page=1119 |access-date=20 March 2023 |archive-date=10 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231010050450/https://books.google.com/books?id=v2yiyLLOj88C&pg=PA1119 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Christianity===
[[File:Flagellants.png|thumb|[[Flagellants]], woodcut, {{circa|15th century}}]]

[[Flagellation of Christ|''The Flagellation'', in a Christian context]], refers to an episode in the [[Passion (Christianity)|Passion of Christ]] prior to [[Crucifixion of Jesus|Jesus' crucifixion]]. The practice of [[mortification of the flesh]] for religious purposes has been utilised by members of various [[Christian denominations]] since the time of the [[East-West Schism|Great Schism]] in 1054. Nowadays the [[Discipline (instrument of penance)|instrument of penance is called a discipline]], a cattail whip usually made of knotted cords, which is flung over the shoulders repeatedly during private prayer.<ref name="Opus Dei Information Office">{{cite news |url=http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=9316 |title=Opus Dei and corporal mortification |newspaper=Opus dei |publisher=Opus Dei Information Office |year=2012 |access-date=3 June 2009 |archive-date=24 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224151300/http://www.opusdei.org/art.php?w=32&p=9316 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the 13th century, a group of Roman Catholics, known as the [[Flagellant]]s, took self-mortification to an extreme, and would travel to towns and publicly beat and whip each other while preaching repentance. As these demonstrations by nature were quite morbid and disorderly, they were, during periods of time, suppressed by the authorities. They continued to reemerge at different times up until the 16th century.<ref>{{cite web |title=Flagellants |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. |date=6 December 2016 |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/flagellants |access-date=9 October 2018 |archive-date=10 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010012754/https://www.britannica.com/topic/flagellants |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Flagellants|encyclopedia=The Columbia Encyclopedia|edition=6th|date=7 October 2018|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/christianity/christianity-general/flagellants|access-date=9 October 2018|archive-date=10 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010060626/https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/christianity/christianity-general/flagellants|url-status=live}}</ref> Flagellation was also practised during the [[Black Plague]] as a means to purify oneself of sin and thus prevent contracting the disease. [[Pope Clement VI]] is known to have permitted it for this purpose in 1348,<ref>{{Cite CE1913|wstitle=Flagellants|author=Leslie Alexander St. Lawrence Toke}}</ref> but changed course, as he condemned the Flagellants as a cult the following year.<ref>{{cite book |title=From the Brink of the Apocalypse: Confronting Famine, War, Plague and Death in the Later Middle Ages |first=John |last=Aberth |edition=2nd |publisher=Routledge |year=2010|page=144  }}</ref>

[[Martin Luther]], the Protestant [[Reformation|Reformer]], regularly practiced self-flagellation as a means of mortification of the flesh before leaving the Roman Catholic Church.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wall|first=James T. |title=The Boundless Frontier: America from Christopher Columbus to Abraham Lincoln |publisher= [[University Press of America]] |page=103 |quote=Though he did not go to the ends that had Luther—including even self-flagellation—the methods of ritualistic observance, self-denial, and good works did not satisfy.}}</ref> Likewise, the [[Congregationalist]] writer [[Sarah Osborn]] (1714–1796) also practiced self-flagellation in order "to remind her of her continued sin, depravity, and vileness in the eyes of God".<ref name="Rubin1994">{{cite book |last=Rubin |first=Julius H. |title=Religious Melancholy and Protestant Experience in America |year=1994 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-508301-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/religiousmelanch00rubi/page/115 115] |quote=In the many letters to her correspondents, Fish, Anthony, Hopkins, and Noyes, Osborn examined the state of her soul, sought spiritual guidance in the midst of her perplexities, and created a written forum for her continued self-examination. She cultivated an intense and abiding spirit of evangelical humiliation—self-flagellation and self-torture to remind her of her continued sin, depravity, and vileness in the eyes of God. |url= https://archive.org/details/religiousmelanch00rubi/page/115}}</ref> It became "quite common" for members of the [[Tractarian]] movement (see [[Oxford Movement]], 1830s onwards) within the [[Anglican Communion]] to practice self-flagellation using the discipline.<ref name="Yates1999">{{cite book|last=Yates|first=Nigel|title=Anglican Ritualism in Victorian Britain, 1830–1910|year=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|isbn=978-0-19-826989-2|page=60|quote=Self-flagellation with a small scourge, known as a discipline, became quite common in Tractarian circles and was practised by Gladstone among others.}}</ref> St. [[Therese of Lisieux|Thérèse of Lisieux]], a late 19th-century French [[Discalced Carmelites|Discalced Carmelite]] nun considered in Catholicism to be a [[Doctor of the Church]], is an influential example of a saint who questioned prevailing attitudes toward physical penance. Her view was that loving acceptance of the many sufferings of daily life was pleasing to God, and fostered loving relationships with other people, more than taking upon oneself extraneous sufferings through instruments of penance. As a Carmelite nun, Saint Thérèse practiced voluntary corporal mortification.

Some members of strict [[monastic]] orders, and some members of the Catholic lay organization [[Opus Dei]], practice mild self-flagellation using the discipline.<ref name="Opus Dei Information Office" /> [[Pope John Paul II]] took the discipline regularly.<ref>{{cite web|last=Barron|first=Fr. Robert|title=Taking the Discipline |date=16 February 2010 |publisher=[[YouTube]] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCts0fjsmug |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211107/VCts0fjsmug |archive-date=7 November 2021 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2025}}

===Shia Islam===
{{Main|Day of Ashura}}{{Further|Tatbir}}{{Cleanup lang|section|date=May 2022}}
As suffering and cutting the body with knives or chains (''matam'') have been prohibited by Shi'a [[Marja'|marja]]s like [[Ali Khamenei]], [[Supreme Leader of Iran]],<ref name="ezsoftech.com">{{cite web |author=Akramulla Syed |url=http://www.ezsoftech.com/mazloom/zanjeer.asp |title=Zanjeer Or Qama Zani on Ashura During Muharram |publisher=Ezsoftech.com |date=20 February 2009 |access-date=30 June 2012 |archive-date=18 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718135409/http://www.ezsoftech.com/mazloom/zanjeer.asp |url-status=usurped }}</ref> some Shi'a observe mourning with blood donation which is called "Qame Zani"<ref name="ezsoftech.com" /> and flailing.<ref name="Jafariya News Network">{{cite web |url=http://www.jafariyanews.com/2k5_news/feb/20ashur.htm |title=Ashura observed with blood streams to mark Karbala tragedy |work=Jafariya News Network |access-date=28 December 2010 |archive-date=26 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926124031/http://www.jafariyanews.com/2k5_news/feb/20ashur.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Yet some Shi'ite men and boys continue to slash themselves with chains (''zanjeer'') or swords ([[talwar]]) and allow their blood to run freely.<ref name="Jafariya News Network" />

Certain rituals like the traditional flagellation ritual called [[Tatbir|Talwar zani]] (''talwar ka matam'' or sometimes ''tatbir'') using a sword or ''zanjeer zani'' or ''zanjeer matam'', involving the use of a ''zanjeer'' (a chain with blades) are also performed.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/200506060012 |title=Scars on the backs of the young |work=New Statesman |location=London |date=6 June 2005 |access-date=28 December 2010 |archive-date=8 January 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110108085112/http://www.newstatesman.com/200506060012 |url-status=live }}</ref> These are religious customs that show solidarity with Husayn and his family. People mourn the fact that they were not present at the battle to fight and save Husayn and his family.{{dubious|date=May 2021}}<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4620487.ece |work=The Times |location=London |title=Devout Muslim guilty of making boys beat themselves during Shia ceremony |first=Steve |last=Bird |date=28 August 2008 |access-date=1 May 2010 |archive-date=25 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125105541/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/ |url-status=dead }}{{subscription required}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2021}}<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/08/27/55577.html |title= British Muslim convicted over teen floggings |work= Alarabiya.net |date= 27 August 2008 |access-date= 28 December 2010 |archive-date= 2 December 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081202145613/http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/08/27/55577.html |url-status= live }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2021}} In some western cities, Shi'a communities have organized [[blood donation]] drives with organizations like the [[Red Cross]] on Ashura as a positive replacement for self-flagellation rituals like ''Tatbir'' and ''Qame Zani''.{{cn|date=April 2025}}