Pandiale – firewalking in Saint Louis, Réunion Island
Obviously, for us, who have been instilled with the fear of fire since their early youth, we remain speechless in front of the many walkers, who brave the heat of the incandescent coals and who stoically cross the tikouli, a pit that welcomes the blaze.
What impressed me quite as much, however, was the spectators’ respect for a cult, which is not theirs. Whether they are Christians, Muslims, atheists, they have come to see, to follow a magical rite, but all, without exceptions, are there in respect of a world that is not theirs.
