MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE: HINDUS DEVOTEES PIERCE THEMSELVES WITH HOOKS AND SKREWERS DURING THE ANNUAL THAIPUSAM FESTIVAL
Record ID:
328449
MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE: HINDUS DEVOTEES PIERCE THEMSELVES WITH HOOKS AND SKREWERS DURING THE ANNUAL THAIPUSAM FESTIVAL
- Title: MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE: HINDUS DEVOTEES PIERCE THEMSELVES WITH HOOKS AND SKREWERS DURING THE ANNUAL THAIPUSAM FESTIVAL
- Date: 31st January 1999
- Summary: 1. SV OF PROCESSION 0.07 2. SV DEVOTEE DANCING/PIERCED MAN PULLING DECORATION (2 SHOTS) 0.18 3. SV MAN HOLDING ROPES ATTACHED TO PIERCED MAN 0.26 4. SV/SLV DEVOTEES CLEANSING THEMSELVES IN RIVER AND SHOWER 0.46 5. SV/CU DEVOTEE BEING PIERCED IN BACK (2 SHOTS) 1.08 6. SV PIERCED MAN PULLING DECORATION 1.15 7. MCU WOMAN DANCING WITH PIERCED TONGUE 1.24 8. CU MAN PIERCING HIS OWN TONGUE 1.40 9. SV MAN WITH FRUIT HOOKED INTO HIS BACK 1.49 10. MCU (english) ALEX BAUM, TOURIST FROM GERMANY, SAYING: "Nobody understands why they are doing this. We're foreigners. Nobody understands why." 1.55 11. CU MUSICIANS PLAYING 2.00 SINGAPORE (JANUARY 31, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 12. LV EXTERIOR OF SRI SRINIVASA PERUMAL TEMPLE 2.05 13. SV DEVOTEES DANCING AND CHANTING/MUSICIANS (2 SHOTS) 2.15 14. MCU MAN HAVING MOUTH PIERCED 2.19 15. SV/MCU OF DEVOTEES DANCING AND PARADING (3 SHOTS) 2.33 16. SV/LAS DEVOTEES GOING INTO TEMPLE (2 SHOTS) 2.45 17. SV DEVOTEE DANCING INSIDE 2.49 18. SV/CU DEVOTEE BEING DETACHED FROM HOOKS (4 SHOTS) 3.09 19. MCU (English) V. J. AREDHINAM, DEVOTEE saying "It's a good relief (that it's over). The main thing is that you feel satisfaction that you vow for something and after accomplishing it, you just feel that satisfaction in you." 3.26 20. MCU MAN HAS PIERCING ROD REMOVED FROM HIS MOUTH AS FELLOW DEVOTEES CHANT 3.36 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 15th February 1999 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SELANGOR, MALAYSIA/ SINGAPORE
- City:
- Country: Singapore Malaysia
- Reuters ID: LVA3D6UQEOL789C9XH77OXXXRLRD
- Story Text: Thousands of Hindu devotees in Singapore and Malaysia
have pierced themselves with hooks and skewers during the
annual Thaipusam festival.
Hundreds of thousands of Hindus climbed 272 steps to a
holy cave near Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpar on Sunday
(January 31) in an annual pilgrimage held by Hindus.
Many devotees, with spikes through their cheeks or hooks in
their backs, chanted and swayed as they patiently made their
way up the steps of a temple in Batu Caves, a limestone
outcrop at the edge of Kuala Lumpur.
Police expected around two million people to throng to the
site in a three-day celebration of Thaipusam, a day of
consecration to the Hindu deity Lord Murugan.
Ecstatic worshippers chanted "Vel! Vel! Vel!", shouting
the word for "lance" in honour of the weapon which scriptures
said the Goddess Parvathi gave to her son Murugan to vanquish
three evil demons and their army of soldiers.
Other devotees carried earthen pots filled with milk or
honey on their heads as offerings to Lord Murugan.
Tourists mingled freely with the devotees and hawkers
paraded their wares at designated spots.
Thaipusam is a centuries-old festival among Hindus of
southern Indian origin observed with more fervour in mainly
Moslem Malaysia than in India.
Ethnic Indians make up about eight percent of the 21
million population in Malaysia.
In neighbouring Singapore, hundreds gathered at a temple as
early as five in the morning to begin the festival.Those who
took part in what is sometimes seen as a bizarre festival say
that nothing beats the sense of peace and serenity on gets
afterpierced themselves.
Thaipusam is named after the Tamil month of Thai and
celebrated in the 10th month of the Hindu calendar.
Like many Hindu festivals, it marks the triumph of good over
evil and is connected with penance and atonement among its
devotees.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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