La fête deThaipusam

Le temps passe, et toujours des fêtes qui approchent.

Après Deepavali en novembre, puis Noël, c'est le tour de Thaipusam cette semaine, et le Chinese New Year (année du lapin) les 3 et 4 février.
Plein de couleurs en vue, de petits ou grands lapins, de piercings plein le corps aux Batu Caves, et de musiques, de danses, de couleurs dans les rues!





Petite histoire de la fête de Thaipusam d'abord: c'est une fête hindoue célébrée principalement par la communauté tamoule. Elle commémore la naissance de Murugan, fils cadet du dieu Shiva, mais aussi le moment où la mère de Murugan (Parvati) lui donna une lance pour vaincre un démon.



















Ce festival est seulement célébré en Malaisie (1,5 million de personnes se rendent aux Batu Caves, à 13 km de Kuala Lumpur) et à Singapour.






A programme: marches, transes, crochets/hameçons avec chaines dans le dos (kavadis) /piercings , offrandes, montée des 272 marches et prières...

Tout cela dans des nuages parfumés d'encens.














Pour plus d'infos:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/holydays/thaipusam.shtml

"The Hindu festival of Thaipusam is about faith, endurance and penance. When it's celebrated in Malaysia it's a dynamic, colourful, happy yet devotional event which can stretch for 3 or 4 days, and attract around one and a half million people each year.

The festival of Thaipusam was brought to Malaysia in the 1800s, when Indian immigrants started to work on the Malaysian rubber estates and the government offices.

It was first celebrated at the Batu Caves in 1888. Since then it's become an important expression of cultural and religious identity to Malaysians of Tamil Indian origin, and it's now the largest and most significant Hindu public display in the country."

Before the festival day itself there's an early morning chariot procession. Devotees approach the chariot with bowls of fruit and even hold babies up to be blessed. Groups of musicians and drummers add to the carnival feel, and pilgrims follow in procession.

This is a colourful event. Women wear jasmine flowers in their hair. Yellow and orange, the colours of Murugan, dominate. Orange is also a colour of renunciation, and is worn by those whose pilgrimage is a temporary path of asceticism.

On the day of Thaipusam itself devotees go to different lengths to show their devotion. Some carry pots of milk or "paal kudam" on their heads as a show of devotion and love to the god.

Others carry elaborate frameworks on their shoulders called "kavadis", which have long chains hanging down with hooks at the end which are pushed into their backs.