Spectacular Hindu fete will again be a major attraction in Singapore
Spectacular Hindu fete will again be a major attraction in Singapore
Arnd Petry, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Singapore
One of the biggest and most spectacular Hindu festivals
outside the Indian subcontinent is celebrated in the city state
of Singapore with its substantial Hindu community.
Thaipusam is celebrated again on Jan. 25 in the tenth month of
the Hindu calendar when the star Pusam can be seen in the skies
and it is full moon.
"Thaipusam here has become a universal festival to say thank-
you," says Uma Rajan, a doctor and active member of the local
Indian community.
Thaipusam is the feast for the son of Shiva and Parvathi, Lord
Muruga, the universal granter of wishes.
Devotees who observe this great day of penance, spiritually
cleanse themselves by undergoing a month-long fast. They observe
frequent prayers, consume a single vegetarian meal daily and
abstain from sex.
The 24-year-old Prakash has prepared himself for the past six
weeks for the festival. When the small metal hooks enter his body
he catches his breath but somehow overcomes the pain.
"It is the highest sacrifice one can give to God, the pain. We
learned it from our parents. It is tradition," Prakash explains.
He had the wish to study and to find a job. "Everything worked
out," he says.
Along with several hundred other devotees he has gathered in
the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in the Indian quarter of
Singapore. The devotees stand with naked chest and dressed in
wide-cut yellow trousers, present of their surroundings and at
the same time far away. They are surrounded by a colorfully
dressed crowd.
Loudspeaker announcements are interspersed with Indian
religious music - drums, flutes and fast rhythmic sounds.
Friends dig the hooks into the skin of the men. Some wear
oranges and lemons. Others have milk cartons dangling from the
hooks. The men take the offerings from here over the Seragoon
Road and four more streets to the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple
where Muruga is at home, and a shrine has been dedicated to him.
Others pull chariots with the hooks sticking from their skin.
The vehicles are loaded with Hindu statues and images of Hindu
Gods. Prakash also takes part in the one-and-a-half-hour walk
through the city. Friends place a Kavadi on his shoulders.
It is an up to 60 kilogram semi-circular canopy supported by a
wooden rod and decorated with peacock feathers, flowers and deity
images. Eventually sharp rods are stuck through his cheeks, lips
and tongue. Hardly any blood flows. Then, with slow, unsteady
steps Prakash starts walking.
The walk ends in front of the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple. Some
of the devotees are clearly exhausted, others look fit. In the
temple they dance in turning circles.
The milk cartons are handed to helpers who open them and pour
the contents into a funnel. From there the white liquid, the
symbol of purity, runs into the shrine of Muruga. From a small
pipe behind the shrine the liquid flows away.
The devotees are released from their load on a meadow behind
the temple. The wounds are immediately dabbed with ash as soon as
the hooks are removed. Again no blood flows. Shortly after the
rods are removed from an elderly man he sums it up: "It was
pleasure and not torment".
Thaipusam is certainly one of the highlights of celebrations
in the city state. But it is only one festival of many in a
multi- ethnic nation which also has a large population of Malays
and Chinese who practice Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism or
Christianity.
The festivities start with New Year but there is also a
Chinese and a Hindu New Year in February and in April/May. Then
there are festivals like the Chinese mooncake festival, the
Buddhist birthday of the monkey God Hanuman or Ramadan and of
course Christmas.