Sorry I have been busy for work and travel in the last days and just came back to Kuala Lumpur and update my blog with new events...I wanted to write about some trips I had done before, but this time I was so impressed by Thaipussam that I just couldnt wait to write about it!
So... lets go for it!
February 1st is a special day for indians in Malaysia, they do celebrate the Thaipussam, which is the most important event of the year.
This festival is celebrated mostly by the Tamil, the lowest race group originally from india who settled down in Malaysia during the british colonization.
Its name, THAIPUSSAM, comes from the following origins: THAI, which is refering the tamil month of Thai, and PUSSAM refers to a star (which is the highest point during the festival). - sorry nothing related to Thailand on its name hehe... - Thai refers to the 10th month which is very important month in the tamil calendar and its celebrated always during full moon, because they do believe the full moon is a passageway to reach the brightest star.
Pussam is actually in the zodiacal sign of Cancer.
This festival is also celebrated in South Africa, and it used to be in India as well but since some time ago the Indian authorities forbid it and now its only in Malaysia and South Africa where its held. Lucky me I could see it even once in my life!This ritual commemorates both the birthday of Lord Murugan, the youngest son of Shiva and Parvati, and the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a lance to defeat the evil demon Soorapadman.
There is a big statue of the Lord at the main entrance of the Batu Caves.
Well what I could see there.... firstly the devotees do fastening for one month before the festival, in order to purify their body.Then on Feb 1st, they come walking from the Indian temple in Chinatown to the Batu Caves, which is around 15 kms far, quite a lot of distance!
The devotees shave their head and do the fasting, to: 
1. ask god a favour, or
2. to fullfill a vow, or
3. to show repent of their sins.
they also put juice squeezed from yellow lime juice on their body, as they believe it will help to numb the skin when they get hurt...
Actually the devottees believe god will help them to relief the pain on their body and prevent from bleeding.
During the day before Thaipussam,the devotees use to break coconuts along the way to the Batu Caves.
This breaking of old coconuts along the road where Lord Murugan, the god, will pass, is a ritual.
Many devotees will pledge a certain number of coconuts each year and to fulfil their vow, lorry loads of old coconuts will be lined along the roads where the chariot of Lord Murugan passes. The coconut water is meant to wash clean the roads.
The devotees bring along kavadis, which are devotion acts, bringing since simple milk pots till the most devoted act, which is a mortification of the flesh by piercing skin, tongue or cheeks. It is claimed that devotees are able to enter a trance, feel no pain, do not bleed from their wounds and have no scars left behind.
The scenes are bit hard to see depending on the time you reach the festival. I have been there twice, on the first day where it was still quite empty, and the second, which was fully crowded and with lots of devotees.
The second day we went there by train. I have never seen such a crowded train in my life, nor even the subway in Tokyo can be compared. Lots of indians pushing hard to get in to the train as if they were refugees escaping not to be caught by the police.... took us almost 3 hours to reach by switching trains since they were sooooo crowded!
When we finally reached there we went to see the devotees along the river and the scenery was quite impressive. I could see a full ritual of mortification, from its beginning since the devotee is totally conscious and later on its transit to trance and going into the temple after that.
The change of attitude on the devottee is amazing. First the priests do the piercing hanging pieces on his/her skin, and the most impressing devotion act consists on hanging 108 pieces in their body.
After that, the priests give them some powder and at the same time hearing the traditional music and crowd and incence they come into trance.
This switch is something must be seen...his eyes point to nowhere in the crowd, his head starts stunning rythm of the music and he goes nowhere. The priests have to take him and stop from running uncontrolled till he becomes more calmed and can be controlled. Its then when the priest loads on him a small golden shrine on his body, or do the last piercings before going into the cave.
The crowd around him who was at the beginning curious is now scared to see this new human being.
They feel like its sight is lost nowhere, cannot recognize things easily as when they were totally conscious. Some devotees become agressive, most are calm even in the crowd who are scared of seeing them in trance.
Not only men do this ritual, also women, even young boys and girls. While I was walking around I saw one man (probably husband) taking care of her wife who was also in trance.
And even a family trying to calm down their daughter who was on the way to trance, who seemed to be possessed.... quite amazing.
We climbed to the top of the Batu Caves, 272 steps up, in a full crowd. The views from the top were surprising as when you look down you see how many people is joining the festival.
The authorities expected around 1,500,000 visitors this year.
In just two days its a big traffic jam, isnt it?
Finally we came home 6am, feeling so tired. The festival was really something.
A unique experience I do recommend to see once in your life, to get to know how different the world we live in is and how different beliefs human have.
At the end, a short note: even on the crowd, I could see only one chinese guy attending the festival. I wonder do really chinese and indians get along as good as it seems here? Will indians attend Chinese New Years events in two weeks? Wait and see. :)
**** Thanks to Py and Hellewise for their helpful explanation! ****
