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Kavadi (burden), itself is a physical burden, the bearing of which is used by the devotee to implore Lord Murugan for assistance, usually on behalf of a loved one who is in need of healing, or as a means of balancing a spiritual debt during Thaipusam day. Devotees process and dance along a pilgrimage route while bearing these burdens.
Thaipusam is a festival commemorating the victory of the heroic Lord Murugan, chief deity of the Tamils, over the evil demon Soorapadman.
This is the first event after a lapsed three years due to the pandemic. Hence, it attracted an estimate one million people to the tiny island of Penang. The festival also coincided with the last day of Chinese New Year and The Dondang Sayang (Baba and Nyonya) celebration. This had caused massive traffic jam along the major routes.
Penang, Malaysia 🇲🇾
February 2023
The festival is celebrated in honour of Lord Subramaniam (also known as Lord Murugan), the destroyer of evil who represents virtue, youth and power.
The festival generally lasts for 2 days. On the eve, a chariot procession bearing a statue of the Lord Murugan begins from Sri Thendayuthapani Temple at Tank Road to Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple at Keong Saik Road.
The Thaipusam ceremony starts in the early hours of the morning. The first batch of devotees carry milk pots and wooden kavadis (ceremonial devices used for religious self mortification in Hinduism). Some pierce their tongues with skewers and carry a wooden kavadi decorated with flowers and peacock feathers balanced on their shoulders. Other devotees carry spiked kavadis that require elaborate preparation.*
*https://www.visitsingapore.com/festivals-events-singapore/cultural-festivals/thaipusam/
The festival is celebrated in honour of Lord Subramaniam (also known as Lord Murugan), the destroyer of evil who represents virtue, youth and power.
The festival generally lasts for 2 days. On the eve, a chariot procession bearing a statue of the Lord Murugan begins from Sri Thendayuthapani Temple at Tank Road to Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple at Keong Saik Road.
The Thaipusam ceremony starts in the early hours of the morning. The first batch of devotees carry milk pots and wooden kavadis (ceremonial devices used for religious self mortification in Hinduism). Some pierce their tongues with skewers and carry a wooden kavadi decorated with flowers and peacock feathers balanced on their shoulders. Other devotees carry spiked kavadis that require elaborate preparation.*
*https://www.visitsingapore.com/festivals-events-singapore/cultural-festivals/thaipusam/
The festival is celebrated in honour of Lord Subramaniam (also known as Lord Murugan), the destroyer of evil who represents virtue, youth and power.
The festival generally lasts for 2 days. On the eve, a chariot procession bearing a statue of the Lord Murugan begins from Sri Thendayuthapani Temple at Tank Road to Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple at Keong Saik Road.
The Thaipusam ceremony starts in the early hours of the morning. The first batch of devotees carry milk pots and wooden kavadis (ceremonial devices used for religious self mortification in Hinduism). Some pierce their tongues with skewers and carry a wooden kavadi decorated with flowers and peacock feathers balanced on their shoulders. Other devotees carry spiked kavadis that require elaborate preparation.*
*https://www.visitsingapore.com/festivals-events-singapore/cultural-festivals/thaipusam/
Thaipusam (Tamil: தைப்பூசம், Taippūcam) is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (January/February). It is celebrated not only in countries where the Tamil community constitutes a majority, but also in countries where Tamil communities are smaller, such as Singapore and Malaysia. The festival is also referred to as Thaipooyam or Thaippooyam (Malayalam: തൈപ്പൂയം, Taippūyaṁ). The word Thaipusam is derived from the month name Thai and Pusam, which refers to a star that is at its highest point during the festival. The festival commemorates the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a vel (spear) so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadman. There is a misconception among people that Thaipusam marks Murugan's birthday; however, it is believed that Vaikhasi Vishakam, which falls in the Vaikhasi month (May/June), is Murugan's birthday.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Every year on the day of the first full moon in late January or early February, over a million pilgrims gather at various temples across Malaysia to celebrate Thaipusam, a vibrant Hindu religious festival in honour of Lord Subramaniam (also known as Lord Muruga, god of war in the Hindu-Tamil pantheon).
On this auspicious day of penance and thanksgiving religious vows and karmic debts are fulfilled through ceremonial acts of devotional sacrifice and bodily self-mortification. The skin, tongue or cheeks of devotees (mostly male) are pierced with metal vel skewers or small spears. Heavy decorative shrines or kavadis with as many as 100 skin-piercing skewers are prepared during the ceremony. Devotees are worked into a trance-like state before the piercings, aided by a preparatory programme of fasting, meditation, prayers and chants.
An elaborate piercing ritual is seen here at the Sri Mahamariamman Temple in Penang, the oldest Hindu temple on the island and one of the main starting points for the annual Thaipusam procession. This devotee will carry and dance bare-footed with the weighty kavadi on his shoulders along a gruelling four-kilometre processional route to the accompaniment of devotional music and traditional drumming patterns, sometimes lasting eight hours under the blazing tropical sun. His pilgrimage will end with the final ascent of more than 500 steps for a closing ceremony at the Arulmigu Sri Balathandayuthapani Waterfall Hilltop Temple on the outskirts of George Town.
The motivation for devotional sacrifice in return for prayers answered is expressed succinctly by one pilgrim at the Penang celebrations: "I want to give thanks for being granted with good health, my career and wealth." Another pilgrim put it another way: “My husband has been carrying a kavadi every Thaipusam for more than 20 years out of faith that it will bring blessings and peace.”
Thaipusam is rooted in Hindu-Tamil legend, brought to the Malayan peninsula by a diaspora of South Indian immigrants who came to work on the rubber estates during the British colonial administration in the late 18th-century.
Digital slide scan, shot with an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic, circa 1973. expl#180
Documentary Portraiture | Lonely Planet | National Geographic
Tamil-Malaysian devotee at Penang's auspicious Thaipusam religious celebration, George Town, Peninsular Malaysia. Digital film scan, Asahi Pentax Spotmatic (SMC Pentax Zoom 45~125mm f/4), circa 1973.
Every year on the day of the first full moon in late January or early February over a million pilgrims gather at various temples across Malaysia to celebrate Thaipusam, a vibrant Hindu religious festival in honour of Lord Subramaniam (also known as Lord Muruga, god of war in the Hindu-Tamil pantheon).
Thaipusam is rooted in Hindu-Tamil legend, brought to the Malayan peninsula by a diaspora of South Indian immigrants who came to work on the rubber estates during the British colonial administration in the late 18th-century.
© All rights to these photos and descriptions are reserved.
A Test Of Faith..
THAIPUSAM is an annual Hindu festival which draws the largest gathering in multi-racial Malaysia - nearly a million people.
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 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.
Thaipusam remains to be the biggest gathering of people in Malaysia. It is also a real cultural experience and a feast for all your senses.
The two main locations of this festival is at Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur and in Penang. In Malacca, the festival there is speckeled by a rare sight of Chinese Hindus performing what has traditionally been an Indian celebration in Malaysia.
Thaipusam is an important Hindu festival celebrated annually in Singapore, usually in late January or early February. It is a celebration of Lord Murugan, the Hindu god of war, and involves devotees carrying kavadis (decorated wooden or metal frames) or piercing their bodies with skewers as acts of penance. The festival is held at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Little India and is attended by thousands of people, both locals and tourists, who come to witness and participate in the colorful and spiritual celebration.
Camera: Olympus E-3
Lens: ZD 12-60mm SWD
Location: Sri Mariamman Temple, Jln.Tun H.S Lee.
Date: Sat, 7th Feb 2009
The devotees making their journey and paving the way ahead of the chariot.
Tamil-Malaysian devotee with kavadi at Penang's auspicious Thaipusam religious celebration, Sri Mahamariamman Temple, George Town, Peninsular Malaysia. Digital film scan, Asahi Pentax Spotmatic, circa 1973.
Every year on the day of the first full moon in late January or early February over a million pilgrims gather at various temples across Malaysia to celebrate Thaipusam, a vibrant Hindu religious festival in honour of Lord Subramaniam (also known as Lord Muruga, god of war in the Hindu-Tamil pantheon).
On this auspicious day of penance and thanksgiving, religious vows and karmic debts are fulfilled through ceremonial acts of devotional sacrifice and bodily self-mortification. The skin, tongue or cheeks of devotees (mostly male) are pierced with metal vel skewers or small spears. Devotees are worked into a trance-like state before the piercings, aided by a preparatory programme of fasting, meditation, prayers and chants.
This devotee, in a state of trance and aided by family members, carries a decorative shrine or kavadi at the Sri Mahamariamman Temple in Penang, the oldest Hindu temple on the island and one of the main starting points for the annual Thaipusam procession.
The motivation for devotional sacrifice in return for prayers answered is expressed succinctly by one pilgrim at the Penang celebrations: "I want to give thanks for being granted with good health, my career and wealth." Another pilgrim put it another way: “My husband has been carrying a kavadi every Thaipusam for more than 20 years out of faith that it will bring blessings and peace.”
Thaipusam is rooted in Hindu-Tamil legend brought to the Malayan peninsula by a diaspora of South Indian immigrants who came to work on the rubber estates during the British colonial administration in the late 18th-century.
© All rights to these photos and descriptions are reserved
The festival is celebrated in honour of Lord Subramaniam (also known as Lord Murugan), the destroyer of evil who represents virtue, youth and power.
The festival generally lasts for 2 days. On the eve, a chariot procession bearing a statue of the Lord Murugan begins from Sri Thendayuthapani Temple at Tank Road to Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple at Keong Saik Road.
The Thaipusam ceremony starts in the early hours of the morning. The first batch of devotees carry milk pots and wooden kavadis (ceremonial devices used for religious self mortification in Hinduism). Some pierce their tongues with skewers and carry a wooden kavadi decorated with flowers and peacock feathers balanced on their shoulders. Other devotees carry spiked kavadis that require elaborate preparation.*
*https://www.visitsingapore.com/festivals-events-singapore/cultural-festivals/thaipusam/
Malaysian Hindus celebrates Thaipusam
The annual Hindu thanksgiving festival held in honour of Lord Murugan
The festival is celebrated in honour of Lord Subramaniam (also known as Lord Murugan), the destroyer of evil who represents virtue, youth and power.
The festival generally lasts for 2 days. On the eve, a chariot procession bearing a statue of the Lord Murugan begins from Sri Thendayuthapani Temple at Tank Road to Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple at Keong Saik Road.
The Thaipusam ceremony starts in the early hours of the morning. The first batch of devotees carry milk pots and wooden kavadis (ceremonial devices used for religious self mortification in Hinduism). Some pierce their tongues with skewers and carry a wooden kavadi decorated with flowers and peacock feathers balanced on their shoulders. Other devotees carry spiked kavadis that require elaborate preparation.*
*https://www.visitsingapore.com/festivals-events-singapore/cultural-festivals/thaipusam/