Advertisement
Published: February 10th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Something odd and strange was happening 8th of this month in Little India, which occurred to be a Sunday, the full moon day in the month of Thai.
The 'thing' was called Thaipusam Festival which celebrates the birthday of the Hindu deity Subramaniam when Hindus show the sincerity of their faith. During this period, these men called devotees pray for divine help and make vows. When their prayers are answered, they fulfill their vows.
To do this, the devotees had pierced their cheeks, tongue, face and other suitable body parts with sharper objects never seen. Next his friends/relatives had loaded a kavadi on their shoulders. The kavadis were a large metal frames attached to their bodies using a horrific array of hooks and spikes which were almost too painful to even watch! Immediately when I saw these things I changed my plans to end up to take any piercing :D
Every devotee was joined by supporters who drum and chant to keep up their morale. Some of the more hardy devotees also hang weights from their kavadis and drag a heavy carrier/weights which hooks were attached to their backs! All the main roads were closed during that day,
but we were prepared to this and watching the parade in good positions on Serangoon road where the devotees went on a 4km journey of faith. Some of them looked like being a trance or in a different world and far away from that place and pain (?)
Whole the festival was extremely spectacular and fascinating festival to watch, although it was not definitely mentioned for those who have a weak stomach. With the atmosphere of festivities thick in the air, we were able to witness the devotees as they passed by us working themselves up into a spiritual frenzy.
I was happy I had read beforehand from what the Thaipusam was basically all about, otherwise I wouldn't have be able to understand it at all. Furthermore one old Chinese man tried to explain about it for me when we were watching the parade, but it was in Chinese of course.. Somehow he didn't really got it that I don't really know Chinese.. but never mind we were still laughing with each others so all is well that ends well, or something.
Afterwards I also read that these these highly dedicated devotees must undergo a strict regime
before they proceed to carry the kavadi since they must live a life of abstinence while maintaining a strict vegetarian diet. They say it is believed that only when the mind is free of material wants and the body free from physical pleasures that a devotee can undertake this sacred task without feeling any pain.
In a manner of speaking I was still wondering why these people are doing this, it seemed so painful and so odd thing to do, that it's hard to describe. Maybe it's better I don't even try. When I saw there were families from babies to grannies watching this festival I realized once again how different we are.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.081s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0453s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb