Thaipusam in Singapore

This week I got to witness the Thaipusam celebration in Singapore. To be honest, I have been looking forward to this event since I first heard about it not long after I arrived and it lived up to and far exceeded any expectations that I had. I consider myself truly lucky to have been able to witness this and know it is something that I will not forget.

I went to the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple the night before and found out that the celebrations started at midnight. Devotees carrying milk pots were set to take off from the temple at 2am and the kavadis would leave starting around 6am. I was mostly interested in seeing the kavadis, so I planned to come back the next morning for a few hours before work.

Early the next morning as I reached Serrangoon Road, I started seeing devotees on their walk to Sri Thendayuthapani Temple. I felt a little apprehensive about photographing anyone as I was the only person walking around with a camera and I didn’t know if it would offend anyone. Plus it was still dark out and I couldn’t exactly take any discreet shots without the flash on my camera blinding everyone as they walked. (If I had a spear in my cheeks, another in my tongue, and hooks all over me, I’m not sure I’d enjoy being blinded too while I walked 4 kilometers.)

By the time I made it to the entrance of the temple, there was a designated area for official photographers so I decided to stay around there to take pictures as everyone was leaving to start their walk. It was getting lighter by then and more tourists were showing up with their cameras. All bets were off then. It was a picture taking free-for-all. And I happily joined in.

After spending some time watching from the entrance of the temple, I then went to a side entrance where I took off my shoes and walked behind to the tented area where the devotees were getting ready. It was a completely amazing atmosphere with hundreds of people around and there was just this infectious energy everywhere. There are devotees with their families and friends, tourists, photographers, and just passerbys all around. Everywhere you turned, there was music, dancing, incense, and more people. It was spiritual and primal and awe-inspiring and just a remarkable feast for your senses. I didn’t know where to look next.

In this back area, I saw a man being helped into his elaborate kavadi, someone else getting his cheeks and tongue pierced while others chanted loudly around him, and another man getting a cart strapped to him so he could pull it with nothing else but the numerous hooks piercing his back.

I wish I could have stayed longer to soak in more, but I departed knowing that I witnessed something incredible and went on my way feeling very fortunate that I was able to experience it.

I’ve posted a few of the pictures here, but if you care to see more (just a warning though, there are needles and hooks involved) then check out the rest of them on my flickr account at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenniferwang/





As a side note, I’ve decided on using flickr to store all my pics so if you too have a flickr account, add me as a contact and we can be flickr friends!!!