Angalamman Festival, Kaveripattinam, Tamil Nadu, India - stock photo

Angalamman Festival is celebrated every year in a small town called Kaveripattinam in Tamil Nadu, India. Devotees, numbering in tens of thousands, converge in this town the day after Maha Shivratri to worship the deity Angalamman, meaning 'The Guardian God'. During the festival some of the worshippers paint their faces and then dress up to look like the Goddess Kali. Others indulge in the ritual of piercing iron rods through their cheeks or piercing hundreds of lemons onto their torsos.