Vel! Vel! Vadivel!

Posted by noelbynature under Lifestyle, Traditions
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You might have heard this cry over the weekend, and if you did, it means you walked right into the festival of Thaipusam, a Hindu festival celebrated and brought to our shores by the Tamil community. Every year around this time, devotees will throng the streets from the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple at Serangoon Road to Sri Thandayuthapani Temple along Tank Road - many of them will be carrying kavadis, which is a metal or wooden frame hoisted over the shoulders as a form of sacrifice. In many instances, the devotees carrying the kavadis will also be pierced, hooked and skewered. This video shows us this year’s procession from start to end point:

Why would anyone want to pierce themselves and walk around with a giant weight over their shoulder? Devotees who prepare a month ahead of time to carry the kavadi do it because of one of two reasons: penance or thanksgiving. Singapore is one of the few places outside of India (and not even all of India, at that) where you can observe the Thaipusam festival - the other places being Malaysia and Mauritius. For more scenes from this year’s Thaipusam, check out Jerome’s post here.

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