This weekend past saw the Thaipusam festival held in Little India. This is the festival where various contraptions are hooked into devotees' bodies and they walk a symbolic pilgrimage.
(our apartment on the right)
I got down for a quick look at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal temple on Friday night and was fed some milk (normally poured over a statue of our Lord Subramaniam but liberally handed out to passing eight-armed elephants and two-armed me), some chickpeas and some dodgy information about when the parade would take place. By pure chance on the drive to the Malaysia-bound ferry on Saturday morning (boys weekend "Vegas" rules apply) we passed by the hook kadavi and I managed to see the devotees and take some amazing photos.
By pure chance on Saturday night in Malaysia the camera's entire memory got wiped (boys weekend "Vegas" rules apply) and so my photos of the morning are gone. The above photo of a devotee is not mine but is of the very same event.
What's really frustrating is that I only found out about this festival by chance from an Indian woman who I am friendly with in the office. There seems to be very little promotion of the the amazing cultural diversity of Singapore and rather than the cultural harmony promoted by Singapore, it seems to be co-existence only. What other amazing celebrations from the Indian, Muslim, Malay and Chinese communities am I missing?
No comments:
Post a Comment