A dervish pierces his cheeks with a needle during the ceremony marking 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)