6. Fifteenth Century Monk Enjoyed Vinegar Soaked Whips
Flagellation was a relatively common religious practice among early Christians. Flagellation, along with other forms of self-inflicted pain or discomfort such as hair shirts, was believed to cleanse the body of evil and purify the soul. Such practices were part of the “mortification of the flesh,” a Christian doctrine that revolved around how to put to death the sinful nature of human flesh and its related appetites.
Ironically for a 15th-century monk, flagellation was inseparable from the appetites of his human flesh. Italian author Pico della Mirandola wrote of a monk who could only enjoy this intimate activity if he was whipped to the point of bleeding with a whip that had been soaked in vinegar. This notion is one of the first noted cases of pathological masochism, meaning that the sufferer can only experience satisfaction with pain instead of merely preferring it.
While it is more controversial than in Christianity, some Shia Muslim groups also engage in forms of self-flagellation. On the Day of Ashura, some Shia communities march in honor of the martyring of Imam Hussein and whip or cut themselves as they advance. Self-harm using sharpened blades is banned in Shia Islam by its mujahideen but regardless some followers, especially in India and Pakistan, cut themselves on the back with knives in ritual self-flagellation.