A few skewers through the face, tongue, and body, then a 5km walk…Thaipusam!!!

Today we saw a man take an eight inch spear shaped skewer, pierce his cheek with it, run it through his mouth and then out the other cheek.  Then, the same man took a similar spear, and, this time, pushed it through his tongue and connected it with the “cheek spear” where they crossed.  These piercings were only a few of the many adorning his body.  Then, he placed a cage on top of himself (secured with spikes into his body), and added a few more hooks and decorations to his arms and other areas of his body.  Then, he proceeded to walk 5 kilometers through the streets of Singapore.  And, he was only one of thousands of men who participated in this procession. This is all of part of the Hindu celebration of Thaipusam.  I have tons of pictures and will post them throughout and then put a gallery at the end.  Enjoy!!!:)

This morning started out like any Sunday morning, John and I went to church.  But then, the day became a lot more interesting with our trip to little India.  On our way into Little India is when we first saw Thaipusam.

Our first view of Thaipusam

Our first glimpse at this celebration was watching devotees processing down the street bearing their kavadis (burdens).  More on Kavadis and Thaipusam later.  Before we could go exploring, we needed some nourishment!  So, we met some good friends for lunch at an Indian buffet.  The food was a bit spicy (I’m still working my way up in the world of spiciness) but it was delicious!  To make up for the food I couldn’t eat because of the spice, I made sure to devour some nan (bread).  Thank goodness for nan!!!:)

Then off to the Srinivasa Peruma Hindu Temple for Thaipusam!  On the way there, we met our good friend Heather (who is a fantastic photographer).  This was her third year, so she could show us around.  When we got to the temple, what we saw was amazing–and sensory overload.  The smell of incense was thick in the air, the sound of beating drums was deafening and brightly colored devotional decorations surrounded us.  We didn’t know where to start!  Finally, we wondered over to the “preparation” area where the men were preparing to mount their “kavadis” (burdens).  A kavadi is a cage like structure that can way up to 15kg (more than 30 pounds) and is worn over the heads of the devotees.  It is secured in placed by spikes that run from the cage into the skin (piercing the skin on the chest and back).  Most devotees with spikes had at least a couple dozen of these in their bodies.  Others carry the weight of the kavadi on their shoulders, but have chain embellishments that are attached to the skin via fish hook type hooks.  And be attached to the skin, I mean hooked into the skin.

Man with kavadi

In addition, some devotees place hooks into their backs that hold fruit, such as limes.  They’ll have ten or twenty pieces of fruit hanging from their backs via hooks.  Large hooks.  The most disturbing part is you can see the stressed flesh pulling as the hooks bear the weight.  All of the devotees carring kavalis (with spikes and hooks) are men.  Women and children can participate and carry a wooden, spikeless version of the kavadi.  More on that later.  Other men drag altars.  They don’t pull them with their hands.  Instead, they attach the altars to chains which are attached to large hooks.  You guessed it!  The hooks are inserted into the back of the devotee and he pulls the alter by the skin of his back.  He is followed by friends, but not to help him.  Not at all.  In fact, the friends pull the altar back against the devotee–this is to test his faith.  It is truly an incredible sight.

Having his face pierced

Once we got our bearings straight among the incense the beating drums, we came upon the young man I described earlier–he was being placed under his kavadi.  We watched his “helpers” (how helpful this is is debateable:)) insert the spikes for his kavadi into his bare chest and bare back.  He bit down on a lime as the metal pierced his flesh.  Gives a whole new meaning to biting the bullet, huh?  After several minutes of watching the spikes and hooks being inserted into his flesh, we saw something that both amazed us and made our stomachs turn.  We watched the man’s helpers pierce his cheeks and his tongue with skewers.  This is a practice that keeps the devotees from being able to talk.  Supposedly, this helps them keep their mind on God.  To pierce his face, they started with his left cheek and pushed until the skewer cleared the flesh and was into his mouth.  Then, they pushed the skewer out through the right cheek.  Next, the he stuck out his tongue.  Down went the skewer all the way through the tongue.  The helpers then offered the devotee a drink through a straw.  For your viewing pleasure, I got a video of the piercing!  But, unfortunately, I ran out of battery as the skewer was exiting the mouth through the cheek.  I missed all of the tongue piercing.  Check it out on Facebook!

Finished Product!

After twenty minutes of this guy, we moved on.  We heard drumming and chanting from the back of the temple, so, of course, we had to check it out.  We couldn’t make it through the crowd very well to see, but we could see a devotee at the center of the circle getting his forehead pierced.  The man piercing him was not only pushing the spike through the flesh, but pushing it very hard (to the point of beating).  Every few seconds, he gave the devotee a break and the devotee, who was in a trance-like state, would go into a frenzy.  He was going so wild that his friends had to hold him down to prevent him from hitting onlookers.  This entire celebration is extremely religious and the followers are extremely devoted.  It’s incredible.

At this point, we walked around, saw a few more kavadis and men being pierced then decided to head to the other temple.  Thaipusam involves more than just the men being pierced.  The devotees them embark on a journey to another temple, in this case, about five kilometers (a little over 3 miles) away.  The devotees walk barefoot (on hot pavement–the weather here today was around 90 degrees Fahrenheit so you can imagine how hot the pavement was) bearing their kavadis the entire way.  So, we did what most westerners do–hopped in a cab–and went to the other temple to see the final part of the journey.

Man who had plants hooked onto his body

Once we got there, we realized the only way into the temple was to fall into the procession–so we did.  We can now say that we have officially walked in a Hindu procession.  What we saw was incredible.  We joined in with devotees (and supporters) who had already marched five kilometers and prepared to march into the temple.  We came across a woman at this point who chose to participate.  She carried a wooden kavadi (no piercings to hold this up).  Her face and tongue were pierced.  She seems to be in a lot of pain–you can tell from the picture in the gallery.  Standing in front of her was a man who had plants attached to his body by hooks.  On the front and the back–to look at his chest you would think he was a walking plant:)

Once inside the temple, and after removing our shoes, we watched the men bearing their kavadis make their offerings to the God and do one final dance at the altar.  The dance seemed like another frenzy, with their supporters clapping and chanting wildly, and them bouncing their burdens up and down.  Check out our video of this on Facebook.  Then, the priest (or equivalent thereof) blessed them with ash to place in the center of their foreheads.  Next, off to the “kavadi removal tent” where the hooks and skewers are removed.

Leaving the temple

The removal is where the blood starts to flow.  Luckily, we didn’t see too much.  We did see two men have their cheek and lip skewers removed.  This process almost seemed more painful than the first.  The helpers initially remove the spears from the men’s chests and backs and then the hooks from their arms and other places on their body they have pierced.  Then, once the burden has been removed, they begin to remove the facial piercings.  They start with the tongue, swiftly pulling the skewer upward.  Next, the cheeks.  The helper places his hand with one finger on each side of the mouth (the outside points of the spear) and with some fingers on the inside.  Very carefully, the skewer is removed.  Some of the blessing ash is then placed on the wounds.  I’m not certain of this, but perhaps this is to bless the wounds.  It also seemed to stop the bleeding.

What an incredible day.  Days like today are such a blessing and I am so grateful to live in Singapore to experience them.  Although seeing a man’s cheeks and tongue being pierced is slightly disconcerting, it certainly gives insight into different cultures and ways of life.

That’s it for today, everyone!  Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaipusam for more information on Thaipusam.  And as always, we miss you!!!  Check back soon:)  Oh, and check out the picture gallery below!