Here are a few videos I took over the course of the festival, ranging from 10 seconds to a couple minutes. The first five are arranged in order of the piercing process - ritual at the shrine, mental trance x 2, pierce the cheeks, and then insert the objects of choice. After that, the videos are in no particular order.
Apologies for filming in vertical, but it was much easier to hold my phone vertical in one hand and continue to use my camera in the other hand.
First step, the Ma Songs pray at the temple shrine and get themselves in the mental state to prepare for the piercing.
This Ma Song is in his trance. No drugs are used, it's all mental.
The last seconds prior to the piercing.
Warning - this video is pretty graphic. The large metal spike is used to pierce both cheeks. The man doing the piercing will look at the objects that will be used for the impaling, and then judge how far in to move the spike - the farther it goes, the larger the hole in the cheek. It's not necessarily required that the spike go all the way to the hilt, but it was required here for the number of swords the guy planned on using. There's very little blood, given how large the holes are.
Warning - this video is pretty graphic. With the holes in the cheeks made, the swords actually slide through pretty easily.
If you're not going crazy with large impaling objects, you can often just do the piercing directly. This guy was just going to use that spike, so no pre-sized hole was needed. Just do it.
This Ma Song was going to go with a bunch of thin metal spikes. This video is the first one going in.
Same guy as the last video, a little farther along in the process.
Warning - this video is a little graphic. It's two minutes and shows the process of piercing someone's tongue.
Firecrackers during the Bang Liao street procession. The shrines the guys are carrying are usually covered with firecrackers at the start of the procession, and people in the crowd will throw more at them as they walk through the streets.
More firecrackers, this time at the Sui Boon Tong shrine. The guys carrying the shrines just have to take it and keep moving.
A self-mutilation ritual during the Jui Tui shrine procession. Some guys will do this, taking blades to their backs. Other guys will use swords or axes to continually cut their tongue as they walk through the streets.
The street procession at the Bang Liao shrine.
This was basically the grand finale of the Sui Boon Tong procession. I really messed this up, if I was thinking I would have been out in front for a better angle as they walk forward through the fireworks. Oh well.
Trying to find space to fit in another metal spike.
Rapid fire piercings.
A woman in her trance gets her cheek pierced.
This guy must have been very confident in the calm winds weather forecast...
More self-mutilation during the Jui Tui shrine procession.
In my experience, the Jui Tui procession is the largest and most crowded and hectic.
That Kathu shrine street procession.
Firecrackers at the Kathu shrine street procession.
If you're sensitive to smoke, a face mask is probably a good idea. Plenty of people are wearing them during the processions.
Fireworks during the Sapam street procession.