Malaysia Events and Festivals

1/01/2010 - 2/28/2010Thaipusam

This popular Hindu festival is an incredible spectacle that sees remarkable displays of mind over matter as devotees pierce their bodies with large skewers, hooks and pins. Not for the squeamish, some of the devotees join the parade showing skewers through their tongues or with heavy weights hung from hooks that have pierced various parts of the body. Some have large metal frames (known as 'kavadis') attached to their bodies with an array of hooks, pins and chains. It is believed that devotees that have undergone the correct purification and meditation processes can free their minds from the material world and therefore enter a trance-like state so that they feel no pain. The parade starts at Sri Mahamariaman Temple in Chinatown and follows a route to the Batu Caves - one of the region's most famous religious sites and a popular tourist attraction. The route throngs with a melee of supporters, devotees, drummers, dancers, food vendors and curious onlookers creating a truly incredible atmosphere. The festival is held in honour of the Hindu deity, Lord Subrahmanya, on the full moon day in the month of Thai.