Thaipusum in Penang

Unbeknownst to us we arrived in Penang on the eve of their big public holiday for the Thaipusum festival. Once again the fantastic serendipity of travel. The Thaipusum festival celebrates when Murugan, the Hindu god of war, is given a vel or spear to vanquish an evil demon.  The festival goes over three days and is a cacophony of chaos and colour.   

There are penance rituals devotees follow.  Some shave their heads and put a clay-like substance on their bald scalps.  Others carry milk jugs on their heads or numerous small jugs which hang from their shoulders, back and chest by hooks piercing their skin.  Still others put a vel through their cheeks and carry colourful Kavadi or burdens. The most spectacular are richly decorated portable canopies, carried on devotees’ shoulders and attached by skewers or vel pierced through the skin of the back and chest.  The devotees slowly walk along a processional route lined with thousands of revilers and accompanied by the most ear-splitting Indian music to which young men dance and twirl. Women are dressed in their best silk saris and salwar kameez.  Brightly coloured stalls and altars or shrines also lined the processional route.  These stalls are sponsored by local businesses and hand out free drinks and food to the spectators.

A devotee with a vel through his mouth

Carrying milk jugs hanging by hooks in his skin

Carrying milk jugs on their head towards the temple

Vel through the mouth and a heavy kavadi across his shoulders

A large white Kavadi

The spears of the Kavadi

A close up of the piercing

A brightly coloured Kavadi without the piercings.  Note the father and son with shaved heads

The women in their beautiful dresses

 

Shrine to Ganesh

Another ritual practiced during the festival is to smash coconuts.  This symbolises “the breaking of one’s ego to reveal purity inside”.  We were all set to watch this spectacle on the last night of the festival when the golden chariot is towed back from the Waterfall Temple.  All along the 7 km route are piles of coconuts.  These are donated by various businesses and delivered in sacks which are then emptied and put into neat piles along the foot paths.  Apparently people smash coconuts in front of the chariot as it approaches.  The broken bits of coconut then have to be cleaned up before the chariot can continue down the processional route.  The trip takes all night.  We mingled with the crowd in anticipation of the arrival of the chariot but by 11 pm we had to call it a night and could only admire the neat piles of coconuts.

The golden chariot and another father and son with shaved heads

Coconuts waiting to be smashed

Shrine at night

This has been my third trip to Penang but was by far the most amazing experience on this charming island.