Thaipusam



Day 2. Another early start to walk to the stadium in Penang. This is where the Hindu devotees prepare to leave for the temple on the hill. It was still a little dark when we arrived but plenty of people had beaten us to the action, especially photographers, certain to get in everyone's way!

At the side of the stadium there was a small temple. There was lots of drumming groups and an area cleared for the piercing to take place and the Kavaldi to be stored. The Kavaldi is the pretty coloured polystyrene sculpture that is carried on the devotee's shoulders.


The piercing was interesting. The devotee eats a purely vegetarian diet for 2 months. This softens the skin and prevents bleeding, apparently. The devotees often have their face, back and some almost their whole body pierced. The back piercings once secure need to be pulled away from the body quite firmly. This ensures no pain and also prevents bleeding so we have been told. It was very interesting to watch the preparations before devotees started to leave the area for their walk to the temple. Some people will be carrying urns containing milk. These are to be poured over the God Murugan at the temple on the hill - Balathandayuthapani Temple.


The road to the temple was lined with stalls. There was free food and drinks for everyone. Super loud music blared from huge speakers along the road wher the devotees danced. You could feel the sound waves passing through your whole body as you passed. Small temples lined the road and thousands of people joined the procession to the temple. There was huge crowds of Hindu worshipers and tourists.


We watched and followed to the top. 513 steps to climb. Luckily we didn't have to participate in the piercings, carry a Kavaldi or a milk urn to the top because the weather was hot, hot, hot! The view from the top was good and we watched the devotees deliver their milk for Murugan. Our descent was a lot quicker as there was no queue.


At the bottom we stocked up on food and drinks. In fact most of the day we were eating and drinking. We are not sure exactly what but everything is vegetarian. The drinks included, a spicy curd mix, rose milk and mango juice.

We left the festival at about 4pm. It was getting busier and the dancing crazier as more people joined in. This then proceeds all night so it must have been wild! We started a long walk to the esplanade, about 6km away. At 7pm the celebrations for the final day of the Chinese New Year festival take place - Chinese valentine's day - Chap Goh Mei.


A huge field was filled with food stalls, a stage and art things for the kids. There was different modelling and painting activities, which looked great. We started to watch the opening announcements and a great singer was in the evening line up too. At 11pm it was fireworks!


However, we did not see any of it. It started to rain. It was just a few spots at first and then the wind increased and BAM! It poured down thunder and lightning everywhere. Most people had no where to go apart from shelter under their umbrellas, which didn't offer much protection. We decided we needed to leave and quickly headed to the bus stop. We had an umbrella but even hiding in the bus shelter didn't stop us getting wet! Luckily a bus arrives fairly soon and we made it to Prangin mall.

It rained most of the night but we made the 2km walk back to base without getting much wetter. We did stop to watch a Chinese singer for a short time but less than a handful of people were willing to face the rain. At the apartment we did hear see and fireworks but we imagine all CNY events were a washout!

As for Thaipusam we can only imagine the dancing would have continued in the rain!



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