Warning : Photo overload ahead!
Yay our first sleep in for the holidays.......8.30am......yes I know that doesn't sound like much of one but for us it is. It was also time to change Hotels and get ready to join the Peregrine Tour. We had a last minute change of Hotels which meant we headed off to the Little India part of Singapore instead of the Chinatown part. Although our new Hotel was not as good as the York we were lucky to be in Little India to witness Thaipusam.This Hindu festival of penance and devotion falls on the 7th February and devotees carry various types of kavadi, or burden, in a day-long procession to the major temples. It can be as simple as carrying a pot of milk or mortification of the body by piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with skewers, at the other extreme. We saw all extremes as our Hotel was on the corner of the 4km route that some 7,000 participants took to honour Lord Murugan, one of the most important Hindu deities. The festival started at 12.05am and lasted until 11pm. The men and the women carried different kavardi. Some were small.
Others a little bigger and wonderfully decorated with peacock feathers, flowers and other things. This young man had a skewer through his cheeks.
And this young man had limes attached to his back with hooks into his skin.
Most walked bare footed whilest others had 'footwear'.
However many of the men had very elaborate kavardis with the 108 vel or spikes.
And then of course there was music.
When they started playing and chanting/singing, the men carrying the kavardi would stop walking and start dancing.
The festival meant that there were lots of people around adding to the atmosphere. We ate Indian for lunch of course....hot but yummy. We filled in the afternoon browsing through the shops........the riot of colour and sequins was beautiful.....certainly a fun place.
Will be back tomorrow with Part Two.
Linda :)
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