WALKING ON FIRE

“上刀山下火海”：福建武平独特的民俗绝技

The harvest is a time of thanksgiving all around rural China, but the villagers of Zhongtuan, Fujian province, prefer to show gratitude in a peculiar way: by performing dangerous acrobatics of ancient origins, such as walking barefoot on hot coals and climbing up a ladder of swords, all of which pay tribute to their ancestors' hardships and leave the performers miraculously unhurt. How do they do it? That's a secret the villagers will never tell.