Spirit mediums in headdresses and lurid make-up, their cheeks pierced by needles and tongues cut by knives, lead a striking procession through the Cambodian capital to mark the end of Chinese New Year.<br />Hundreds of people filled an alley for the colourful annual festival, known as the Hei Neak Ta, or the spirit parade.<br />The procession mixes Chinese ritual and local folk tradition in a country where beliefs in the spirit world run deep.<br />Believers invite spirit-possesed mediums into their shops and homes to bless them with good luck or to banish illness or bad fortune.<br />The mediums forced needles through their cheeks and cut their tongues, using blood to write mystical diagrams known as yantras on paper slips before distributing them to the crowd.
