Greetings, all!
While John was in Hong Kong about a month ago, I went with a few friends to Thaipusam. Thaipusam is a Hindu festival to honor the Lord Murugan and to celebrate the day he received his spear. In KL, hundreds of thousands of people participate. Devotees make a pilgrimage from a Hindu temple to the Batu Caves, a cave that also serves as a temple. To reach the cave requires climbing 300 steps. What’s so unique about this pilgrimage, however, is the manner in which they do it. Participants pierce themselves (their faces, their backs, etc.) and then carry burdens called “cavadis”. In KL, many of the devotees had the cavadis on wheels and were pulling them via hooks (large fish hooks) in their backs. Friends would hold the wheeled carts back stressing the hooks and the skin, thus demonstrating their friend’s devotion to the God. Periodically on the path between the temples, the participants would go into a trance like state and dance and yell. To look into their eyes you see nothing and they are seeing beyond you. They are in a trance beyond their pain and beyond their surroundings. This year, we even saw a guy swinging a four-ish year-old girl over his head in celebration.
This year, it was about 100 degrees and sunny, so it added to the environment. Loud chanting was ringing in our ears and the smell of incense was unavoidable. As usual, it was unbelievable. Pictures are in a gallery below. There were too many to upload through out the entry. View with caution–some are a little painful to look at!!!
As always, thanks for reading!!!
John and CB's Most Excellent Adventure 