After years of taking Thaipusam photos at Batu Cave, Selangor, I decided to go back to my hometown to take photos of Thaipusam in Penang in January 2018.
Thaipusam is an important annual festival for the Hindu communities in Malaysia and Penang has one of the biggest Thaipusam celebration in country. The festival usually falls on January or February and it lasts for three days.
Day 1 - the festival begins with the procession of chariots carrying the statue of Lord Murugan from a temple at Little India to the Waterfall Hilltop temple. The chariot is pulled by bulls and it takes about 10 to 12 hours to complete the 7 km journey. Devotees gather along the roads leading to and from the temples to offer their offerings and smash the coconuts. Little children are lifted up to the idol in the chariot for priests to invoke the deity’s bless.
Day 2 - Devotees carrying milk-pots of brass and silver and colourful kavadi find their ways to the Waterfall Hilltop temple by foot. The kavadi bearers often pierced with skewers through their cheeks and tongues and small hooks on their backs. The devotees walk in group and some of them start to walk as early as 2:00 AM. All the main activities happen near the main road leading to the Waterfall Hilltop temple.
Day 3 - the chariot will depart from the Waterfall temple in the evening and will reach the temple at Little India around 6:00 AM on the next day. This marks the end of the 3 days annual festival.
Penang has a unique way of celebrating Thaipusam, which I hardly seen in the celebration in Kuala Lumpur/Selangor
The celebrations have drawn non-Indian devotees. Local Chinese devotees carry kavadi and present offerings to the chariots. You can also see Chinese lion dance groups participate in the procession.
Smashing of coconuts has been one of the main activities through out the festival in Penang. Local devotees and communities will arrange coconuts in gunny sacks and start to smash it one by one just before the arrival of the chariot. Tourists can help themselves to smash the coconut and experience the atmosphere of the festival
There are many temporary stalls setup along the route of the chariots and at the main road leading to the Waterfall Hilltop temple to provide refreshments, food and rest area to devotees and visitors.
This year, I only manage to capture the photos for day 1 procession. I am planning to go to Penang again in 2019 to take more photos for day 1 and day 2 Thaipusam celebration.
References
1. https://www.timeout.com/penang/things-to-do/thaipusam-in-penang dated 26th January 2018
