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A dervish pierces his belly with a needle during the ceremony marking the spring festival Nowruz in a prayer room in the town of Gjakova on late March 21, 2023. Chanting and swaying to the hypnotic rhythm of prayer until they reach a trance-like state, the group of Dervishes in Kosovo then pierce their cheeks with long needles, seemingly without pain. Considered as a mystic sect by fellow Muslims in Kosovo and Albania, the dozens of Sufi Dervishes from the Kadiri order were gathered in western Gjakova for the centuries-old celebration of the spring equinox festival of “Sultan Nevruz”. (Photo by Armend Nimani/AFP Photo)
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