More Thaipusam

I have so many pictures of this amazing event, you will have to bear with me while I share them all. My apologies to those who have a weak stomach, this is not for the faint of heart! Besides the obvious shock value of the piercings and hooks, it was also a pretty impressive to see people so dedicated to their religious beliefs. And it was certainly a family event, each devotee was surrounded by his friends and family who were often drumming, chanting and singing to help push him along the route. 

So here is your brief education on the festival courtesy of wikipedia....

Thaipusam (தைப்பூசம்) is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai. 

Generally, Hindus take a vow to offer a kavadi to idol for the purpose of tiding over or averting a great calamity. For instance, if the devotee's son is laid up with a fatal disease, he would pray to Shanmuga to grant the boy a lease of life in return for which the devotee would take a vow to dedicate a kavadi to Him.

Devotees prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer and fasting approx-48 days before Thaipusam. Kavadi-bearers have to perform elaborate ceremonies at the time of assuming the kavadi and at the time of offering it to Murugan. The kavadi-bearer observes celibacy and take only pure, Satvik food, once a day, while continuously thinking of God.

On the day of the festival, devotees will shave their heads and undertake a pilgrimage along a set route while engaging in various acts of devotion, notably carrying various types of kavadi (burdens). At its simplest this may entail carrying a pot of milk, but mortification of the flesh by piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with vel skewers is also common.

The simplest kavadi is a semicircular decorated canopy supported by a wooden rod that is carried on the shoulders, to the temple. In addition, some have a small spear through their tongue, or a spear through the cheeks. The spear pierced through his tongue or cheeks reminds him constantly of Lord Murugan. It also prevents him from speaking and gives great power of endurance. Other types of kavadi involve hooks stuck into the back and either pulled by another walking behind or being hung from a decorated bullock cart or more recently a tractor, with the point of incisions of the hooks varying the level of pain. The greater the pain the more god-earned merit. It is claimed that devotees are able to enter a trance, feel no pain, do not bleed from their wounds and have no scars left behind.

OK- now that we all have the basics down, lets move on to the pictures. 

He is pulling an alter on wheels behind him attached to the ropes. Just in case he was not feeling enough pain, his friends are also tugging on the ropes. 

Learning the ropes by carrying a large offering. 

 If you look closely you can see that his mouth is closed shut by one spike going through his tongue and one through his cheeks.

Yes, those are limes hanging from his pack by fish hooks. 

This guy is really going for broke, he is not only wearing the spears but is also dragging a shrine behind him attached to hooks in his back. 

The cheek piercing really looks uncomfortable. 

They may not be piercing themselves with hundreds of spears, but it was a hot day, and they walk a really long way to the Temple, barefoot on hot cement, with their arms over their head the whole way. Looks like hard work to me.