Celebrating Thaipusam in Tamil Nadu

Thaipusam is a Hindu festival celebrated by Tamil communities all over the world. The name is a combination of two words: the month of thai and pusam, a star at its highest point in the sky at this time. The festival’s purpose is of ceremonial sacrifice, meant to cleanse one’s soul through penance and remove the obstacles in life, symbolizing Parvati’s gift of a spear to Murugan, the Tamil god of war who used the weapon to defeat an evil demon.

For many followers, this sacrifice involves prayer and fasting for two days before the festival begins. The process is known as kavadi attam, or the Burden Dance, performed to focus the mind on God by limiting Earthly pleasures, abstaining from sex and eating only satvik, or clean food. Religious practitioners might be kavadi bearers, performing religious ceremonies in the lead up to Thaipusam’s march. For most Hindus, this involves a long walk carrying a container of milk. These marches take place all over the world, the biggest one in Malaysia with more than 1 million people walking to Nattukkottai Chettiar Temple in Penang.

For the particularly devout, the ceremonial sacrifice is much more intense and involves self-mortification. Symbolizing Murugan’s spear, some marchers choose to pierce their skin with skewers and hooks, commonly through the tongue, cheeks and back. Some even attach the hooks to ropes and pull heavy chariots by the skin of their back. According to devotees, they don’t feel any pain as they are in a spiritual trance.