Thaipusam Festival- photo update 9

2008-02-16T18:52:00.001-08:00

Children were taken along by their parent to Batu Cave Thaipusam

Thaipusam Festival- photo update 8

2008-02-11T06:03:00.001-08:00

Most ladies devotees just carrying a small pot of milk up
the steps to be poured on the vel is enough.

Thaipusam Festival- photo update 7

2008-02-10T07:55:00.001-08:00

Thaipusam Festival-- Photo update 6

2008-02-05T07:19:00.000-08:00

THAIPUSAM is an annual Hindu festival which draws the largest gathering in multi-racial Malaysia. It is one of the Malaysia Festivals celebrated in other states of Malaysia.

Thaipusam falls on the tenth day of the month of Thai in the Hindu Almanac and that would usually be in late January or early February. This year its fall on January 23, 2008.

Thaipusam Festival- photo update 5

2008-02-04T06:08:00.001-08:00

To many Thaipusam is the day of thanksgiving

or atonement for wrongs.

Thaipusam Festival- photo update4

2008-02-02T21:53:00.000-08:00

The devotees say it is faith. "The belief in Lord Murugan
is what prevents the pain and the bleeding,"

Thaipusam Festival- photo update 3

2008-02-01T08:42:00.000-08:00

Tourists watch in awe and taking photographs on devotees
spear their cheeks with long, shiny steel rods and pierce
their chests and backs with small, hook-like needles in penance.

Thaipusam Festival- Photo update 2

2008-01-27T07:11:00.001-08:00

Thousands of Hindu devotees walking towards the
Batu Caves Thaipusam Celebration

Thaipusam Festival- photo update 1

2008-01-27T00:27:00.000-08:00

THAIPUSAM is an annual Hindu festival which draws
the largest gathering in multi-racial Malaysia.

Thaipusam Festival

2008-01-26T19:06:00.000-08:00

THAIPUSAM is an annual Hindu festival which draws the largest gathering in multi-racial Malaysia. It is one of the Malaysia Festivals celebrated in other states of Malaysia.

Thaipusam falls on the tenth day of the month of Thai in the Hindu Almanac and that would usually be in late January or early February. This year its fall on January 23, 2008.

Several hundred devotees spear their cheeks with long, shiny steel rods - often a metre long - and pierce their chests and backs with small, hook-like needles in penance.

Tourists from all over the world watch in awe as metal pierces the skin with hardly any bleeding and, apparently, no pain as the devotee stands in a trance in the dawn light after weeks of rigorous abstinence.

The devotees say it is faith. "The belief in Lord Murugan is what prevents the pain and the bleeding," says a priest at the temple which conducts the annual rituals.

There are plenty stories about what Thaipusam is about. Among the most popular is that it commemorates the day Lord Siva's consort, the powerful goddess Parvathi, gives her son, Murugan, to vanquish three demons and their large army which were plaguing the world.

In Kuala Lumpur, the festival is celebrated on a mammoth scale at the Batu Caves temple on the outskirts of the city. It began in 1892, started by early Tamils who migrated to colonial Malaya.

Reportedly, two of them made the difficult trek up the ancient limestone hill and planted the `vel' in the cave. The cave, the size of a soccer field, houses a temple dedicated to Lord Murugan.

The vel, made of metal and shaped like a lance, symbolises Murugan who is also known as Velan.

On the eve of Thaipusam, a five-ton silver-chariot bearing Lord Murugan's image and followed by a procession of several thousand people leaves the Sri Mahamariaman temple in downtown Kuala Lumpur, on a 15-kilometre trek to Batu Caves.

Mahamariamman is also another name for Parvathi, Murugan's mother.

Drums beat out trance-inducing rhythms and long wooden pipes, known as nathaswaram, croon devotional tunes in a loud carnival atmosphere.

To many Thaipusam is the day of thanksgiving or atonement for wrongs.

Spectacular edifices or kavadis are often carried or pulled by the devotees with chains and ropes anchored in the skin of their backs or chests.

After ritual cleansing at a stream at the foothills, they walk up the 272 steps accompanied by family and friends.

But kavadi carrying need not be so arduous. Just carrying a small pot of milk up the steps to be poured on the vel is enough. Most devotees do this.

Some parents carry newborn babies slung in a cloth-cradle hung on a pole shouldered at both ends by the mother and the father as thanks for a safe birth.

Some also carry kavadis made of wood or metal adorned with pictures or statues of Hindu deities, flowers and peacock plumes.Others shave their heads bald as a symbol of humility and atonement.

In Penang, thousands of devotees end their journey on foot at the famous temple atop a small hill in it’s lush Waterfall suburbia every year. After hours of trekking from the various temples in George Town, the pilgrims ascend the hill with a final inspired spurt of fulfilment and calmness, to release their loads in the holy place as a realisation of their vows.

One group of Chinese devotees was seen pulling a small chariot of Kuan Yin, the Chinese goddess of mercy. Another group had actually prepared an ornate chariot replete with giant images of Hindu gods such as Shiva and Kali accompanied by the serene image of Kuan Yin.

Throughout its history, the chariot has been pulled by up to six pairs of bulls.. Many in the island's large ethnic-Chinese community also take part in the festivities, breaking hundreds of coconuts.

Many observe a strict vegetarian diet for about 40 days and renounce all forms of comfort and pleasure-giving activities. The 40 days are spent in meditation and prayer.

Malaysia Festivals And Celebrations