'Thaipusam', Hindu pluralistic festival in Penang

'Thaipusam', Hindu pluralistic festival in Penang

A. Junaidi
The Jakarta Post/Penang, Malaysia

The damage caused by December's tsunami has not stopped people of
various faiths and ethnic backgrounds on Penang Island, Malaysia,
from celebrate the annual Thaipusam Hindu festival.

Many Chinese-Malaysians and Malays of all age groups, as well
as foreign tourists, participated in the festival held at
midnight on Jan. 27.

The festival commemorates the day the powerful goddess
Parvathi, the Lord Siva's consort, gave her son, Murugan, a vel
(lance) to fight three demons and their armies.

Lit up by the light of the full moon, participants made
donations and helped distribute bread, fruits and drinks to
hundreds of people, mostly Indians of Tamil descent, who paraded
down the island's streets.

Meanwhile, Chinese participants lit joss sticks and prayed at
Hindu temples.

This pluralistic celebration reportedly only occurs on the
285-square-kilometer island, population one million, of which
more than 50 percent are Chinese-Malaysians.

"All people from various faiths are allowed to participate in
the festival," said G. Muguthan, a temple leader in Georgetown,
the island's main city.

Muguthan said the involvement of people from various religions
and ethnicities illustrated the tolerance embraced by all living
on Penang. In addition, this attitude reflected the festival's
purpose -- to celebrate the death of evil and the return of
peace.

He said Thaipusam was viewed by many people as a day of
thanksgiving for all the blessings given by the gods over the
past year -- hence the offerings of bread, fruits and drink,
which symbolized these blessings.

The Tamil participants -- with many of the women wearing the
traditional sari -- paraded and stopped for a while at the
temples dotting the island, which played Indian tunes on a tape
recorder. They prayed at each temple and received some fruits and
drink.

The parade also included several trucks decorated to resemble
a float, upon which traditional Indian music groups rode and
entertained residents along the way.

Among the most beautiful attractions -- and which seemed to be
the centerpiece of the parade -- was a chariot pulled by two
white bulls, atop which was a three-meter image of Murugan.

Across Malaysia, such as at the famous Batu Cave Temple on the
outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Thaipusam is marked by piercing parts
of the body with steel skewers.

Many devotees pierced their cheeks, chests and backs with
meter-long skewers, but without bleeding and apparently without
any pain, as they were in a trance. Apparently, those who take
part in this ritual practice abstinence over several days leading
up to the festival to prevent pain and bleeding.

Tourists watched in awe when the devotees stabbed the steels
through their own flesh. The steel symbolizes the vel, Murugan's
lance which was used to defeat the demons.

In Malaysia, the first festival was reportedly held in 1892 by
first-generation Tamils who migrated to colonial Malaya.

However, Penang does not conduct the piercing ritual because
of its violence and because it might create fear among the
spectators. Instead, the Penang people invented coconut-breaking
The piercing was substituted with a coconut breaking.
to replace the piercing ritual.

People throw and break hundreds of coconuts on the ground at
the end of the festival -- about 4 a.m. local time.

"Breaking the coconut means purifying the earth. The water
that flows from the coconut 'cleans' the dirt," said Sudesu,
Muguthan's son, who financed the celebration at his father's
temple.

However, the joy of the festivities did not mean the people of
Penang forgot their compassion for others who had suffered much,
particularly victims of the tsunami, which killed 28 people on
the island and more than 300,000 people in Asia.

At this year's Thaipusam, donation boxes were provided at the
temples, and participants solemnly contributed to the fund-raiser
for tsunami victims and their families.