Abstract

On the island of La Réunion, a French overseas department in the Indian Ocean, some inhabitants walk barefoot across a pit of burning embers, the culmination of a Hindu ritual cycle. The practitioners deliberately choose to undergo this ritual ordeal in honour of the deity in order to gain his favour. Although pain is an awkward topic that one prefers not to talk about, practitioners «feel the fire», an expression referring to the painful sensations experienced during the fire-walk. This article explores the narratives, the management and the representations of the pain felt in rituals. Pain must be stoically embodied, and is an indispensable element for validating the trial. In the heterogeneity of experiences, in Hindu ritual settings, pain is not experienced as negative and can even contribute to the personal satisfaction and pride of the individual experiencing it