Gory spirit festival lights up Cambodian capital

Gory spirit festival lights up Cambodian capital
Spirit mediums in headdresses and lurid make-up, their cheeks pierced by needles and tongues cut by knives, led a striking procession Tuesday through the Cambodian capital to mark the end of Chinese New year. Hundreds of people poured through an alley for the colourful annual festival, known as the Hei Neak Ta, or the spirit parade. The procession mixes Chinese ritual and local folk traditions in a country where beliefs in the spirit world run deep