I’ve just been in the office editing a few images, catching up on posts, etc…,and thought I would wrap things up by posting a few photos from a trip I took to Singapore (a few years back, aka the Canon 20D era).
I have to say that Singapore is definitely one of my favorite places. Mostly due to the mixture of the three main cultures that reside there: Malay, Chinese, & Indian. Needless to say, the food is amazing!
One evening, while wandering the streets with a few friends, I had the privilege to witness a part of the Thaipusam festival, which is known as the Kavadi Attam. To give you a bit of background, the Thaipusam is a Hindu festival, celebrated mostly by the Tamil community. The Kavadi Attam is a dance that is performed by devotees, which simply emphasizes “debt bondage”. The Kavadi is basically a physical burden carried by devotees, who look to the God Murugan (or Tamil God-Of-War) for help.
(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaipusam)
“Devotees vow to offer a Kavadi to their idol, for the purposes of helping or avoiding great calamity. For example, if a devotee’s son is stricken with a fatal disease, he would pray to Shanmuga to grant the boy a lease of life. In return, the devotee would take a vow to dedicate a Kavadi to Him.
Devotees prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer and fasting. 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 takes 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 (or 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 semi-circular decorated canopy supported by a wooden rod that is carried on the devotee’s shoulders, to the temple. In addition to this canopy, some devotees have a small spear pierced through their tongue or cheeks, which constantly reminds them of Lord Murugan. It also prevents the devotee from speaking and gives great power of endurance. Other types of Kavadi involve hooks stuck into the devotee’s back, which are either pulled: by another walking behind, 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.”
The street the devotees walked down was quite wide & amazingly crowded. The police had blocked the sides of the roads, making it a bit more difficult to get a shot. However, I was able to fire off a few frames in the pitch black. Hopefully, these photos give you a bit of an idea of this amazing festival:
Near the end of my trip, I also had the opportunity to visit Sentosa Island. One of the many places we stopped to visit was Underwater World, where I was able to grab this shot:
Well, that’s it for tonight….more soon.
-A-
Alim Kassim :: Photography Blog (old) 