A Colombian farmer performs up to 10 exorcisms a week in bizarre rituals to expel demons and spirits from believers’ bodies and souls.
Hermes Cifuentes, more commonly known as “Brother Hermes,” performs the exorcisms on his farm in La Cumbre in the western department of Valle de Cauca on a weekly basis.
The possessed people are daubed in black mud and dressed in white. In the video (below) it appears that Brother Hermes is performing a group exorcism with one victim lying blindfolded on the ground covered in homemade crucifixes and two others in pits behind.
He chants over them waving plants and burning torches to chase the evil spirits from their souls and in one scene the priest leans over to touch one possessed woman who begins to writhe and scream.
The 52-year-old farmer uses eggs and lemons in his ritual to rid the possessed of their demons, a practice passed down to him from his father. Brother Hermes said that he helped his father perform exorcisms from a very young age and began to work as a professional 25 years ago.
The exorcist’s rates range between $45 and $140, though it is not clear if the charge is based on the malevolence of the demon in charge of the victim’s soul.
