Who ever said that Singapore was boring, sterile & not exotic enough. Today I was able to partake in an amazing event, the Thaipusam Festival, organized by the Swiss Association of Singapore (SAS).

Thaipusam, a festival celebrated on the 10th month of the Hindu calendar, is a day of penance and thanksgiving for Hindus. It is a Hindu festival honoring the god Murugan and is celebrated by the Hindu community in Singapore, Malaysia, Southern India and Sri Lanka.

This festival commemorates the devotion of Idumban, a devotee of Lord Murugan (also known as Lord Subramaniam), who received a great burden of offerings to pay homage to his deity. Lord Murugan represents virtue, youth and power and is the destroyer of evil. Today, it is believed that any devotee carrying a kavadi in fulfillment of vows will have their wishes granted.

Each year, around 20,000 devotees embark on this ritual journey, making this one of the most bizarre spectacles Singapore has on offer. Devotees who observe this day of penance, spiritually cleanse themselves by undergoing a month long fast. They observe frequent prayers, consume a single vegetarian meal daily and abstain from sex. Twenty-four hours before the carrying of kavadis, a complete fast is observed by devotees. It is believed that only when the mind is free of material wants and the body free from physical pleasures that a devotee can undertake this sacred task without feeling any pain.

We started our tour at the Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Little India, where Murugan's devotees go into trances, induced through prayer and willpower. During these trances, they perform miraculous penances, seemingly stretching the boundaries of endurance and pain. Some only push skewers or needles through their tongues and cheeks, while other devotees walk in sandals embedded with iron nails or poke hooks into the flesh of their backs. These hooks are attached to ropes which are fastened to little ceremonial carts.

I felt completely overwhelmed, almost nauseated to witness such an event up close and personal. It was a strange, almost supernatural sensation to stand next to a man slowly piercing his tongue & cheeks with huge skewers showing no signs of pain, or blood. As if those 2 needles weren't torture enough, family members then proceed to attach the huge kavadi to his body. These are big metallic frames, weighing up to 30kg's, which are adorned with imitation peacock feathers, a symbol of Murugan. These metal frames are worn on shoulder pads, but also have countless little hooks and giant needles, which are attached to the carrier's body. They also stick limes, attached to fish hooks, into the man's back. Not just at random, but neatly in rows, hook by hook. The man's flesh is now deeply pierced, but again, no blood. The air is filled with the drums & chants of supporters, crying "Vel! Vel!" (Spear! Spear!) to keep up the morale of the devotees. Vessels full of milk, called palkuddam, may also be hung onto the Metal frame and body, giving it some extra weight and making the balance trickier. Ideally, none of the milk should spill.

Astoundingly, there appears to be no physical pain encountered throughout these processes and strangely, no blood coming from any of the wounds! An age old mystical rite that defies any laws of nature and any rational explanation. Certainly not a sight for the faint-hearted.

Then, the devotees slowly begin the 4km walk down busy Serangoon Road. With all these entranced characters about, not to mention the thousands of ecstatic onlookers, one does feel part of something wild, crazy, almost supernatural. After hours of walking and dancing in front of specially allocated tents for spectators and being in a permanent state of trance the devotees finally make it to the Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple, where they perform in front of a large crowd one last time, the final stage of their pilgrimage. The spikes and needles now are well entrenched in their bodies, many of them are completely exhausted, covered in sweat.

The minute they exit the main temple they are ushered into a tent where family members and supporters slowly remove all the metal skewers. The kavadi and the spikes are carefully put back into boxes and will be used two more times, in the years to come, when another member of the family has earned the right to partake in this ancient tradition.

Thomas Baechtold
Overseas guest participating in this SAS event.