Thaipusam 2012 - Every Painful Step Of The Way

6:42 PM  , , , ,  

Serangoon Road to Tank Road
Little India
Central, Singapore
February 2012

 
A festival occurring in the Tamil month Thai (January-February), the day of the star Pusam around Pournami (Full Moon) is celebrated as Thaipusam. It is a special day for worship of Lord Muruga (also known as Subrahmanya or Thendayuthapani) and is celebrated in a very grand manner at all Murugan temples. This festival honours Muruga or Subramanya, the son of Shiva.

Kavadi Attam is a dance performed by the devotees during the ceremonial worship of Murugan, the Tamil God of War. It is often performed during the festival of Thaipusam and emphasizes debt bondage. The Kavadi itself is a physical burden through which the devotees implore for help from the God Murugan. Generally, Hindus take a vow to offer a kavadi to idol for the purpose of tiding over or averting a great calamity. 

In Singapore, the Thaipusam ceremony starts in the early hours of the morning where devotees fulfill their vows with a 4.5 km walk from Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple along Serangoon Road to Sri Thendayuthapani Temple on Tank Road. The first batches of devotees usually carry milk pots and wooden kavadis. A kavadi consists of two semicircular pieces of wood or steel which are attached to a cross structure that can be balanced on the shoulders of a devotee. It is often decorated with flowers, palm leaves and peacock feathers. The milk they have been carrying is then offered to Lord Subrahmanya at the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple. Some devotees also pierce their tongues with skewers and carry a garlanded wooden arch across their shoulders. Devotees carrying spiked kavadis, which require elaborate preparations, leave the temple in the later part of the morning and continue till night. The festival is not just an exclusively Indian affair; several Chinese devotees and people of other races also come to fulfill their vows on this day. 

It takes a whole team of people to adorn and assemble the kavadis...


The kavadi-bearers not only had to carry the 30-kg kavadis, 
they also endured body piercings...


Witnessing the mouth-piercing process was a very intense experience - 
It took an incredible amount of effort to insert the spikes, 
and an even greater amount of endurance to be the one being spiked. 
We were moved by the amount of trials that the kavadi-bearers underwent...







 
The kavadi-bearers with the piercings - 
Night kavadis were decorated with lights to illuminate their bearers' paths...
 
There were others wore sandals lined with hundreds of nails 
as a testament of their gratitude...

These two families rallied around their teenage boys with songs and their presence 
to encourage them on their journeys...
 
For some others, it was a time to sing and dance to celebrate the journey...
 
It was not an easy task to remove the spikes. 
It is not true that the devotees do not feel the pain. 
Neither is it true that they do not bleed...
 
Thaipusam is a moving event of pure devotion and endurance 
which truly reflects the bonds between the devotees and their family and friends 
who were there for them - every painful step of the way... 

 
More photos are available on Merlion Wayfarer's Picasa at :
Festivals - Thaipusam

Sources