Usually a private event in the family compound, sometimes entire communities boil rice and milk together.- Young girls sing and dance to honor the harvest
- Cows are bathed, garlanded and fed on this day
- It is a good sign if the froth from boiling rice and milk overflows to the East, auguring an abundant year in the fields.
Yes, today is Thai Pusam. Each year, during January/February, the Tamil month of Thai, millions gather to worship and honor Lord Murugan with fervor. In North America, He has temples in Arizona, Maryland, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and California.
HOW IS THAI PUSAM CELEBRATED?
Devotees prepare themselves through prayer and fasting. On the day of the festival, many shave their heads, an act of sacrifice that symbolizes humility and the surrender of vanity. They undertake a pilgrimage to a place where Thai Pusam is being celebrated, usually a temple, while performing acts of devotion and penance. The most notable practices are the carrying of kavadis (“burdens”). Thai Pusam is observed in the Tamil month of Thai, between January 15 and February 15, when the Pushya star cluster, called Pusam in Tamil, rises with the full moon.
WHAT IS THAI PUSAM’S SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE?
This festival celebrates the moment in sacred legends when Lord Murugan, as the commander-in-chief of the divine army, defeated, using various spiritual powers, a mighty demon named Taraka who was wreaking havoc in all the worlds.
WHERE IS THAI PUSAM CELEBRATED?
This festival is widely celebrated among communities of Tamil peoples in South India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Fiji, South Africa, Singapore, Mauritius, the Caribbean and North America. In South India, thousands walk barefoot for days to Palani Hills carrying colorful kavadis. The largest celebrations take place in Malaysia, where it is a public holiday. The temple at Batu Caves, near Kuala Lumpur, attracts a million devotees on that day.
TIDBITS ABOUT THAI PUSAM
What other acts of penance are observed? After fasting and following other spiritual preparations, carriers of kavadi may ask a priest to pierce their bodies with small spears, replicas of Lord Murugan’s vel. Other famous acts of penance include walking on hot coals and wearing nail shoes. It is considered a miracle of faith that fire walkers suffer no burns, and piercings do not bleed or leave scars.
Why are these austerities performed? Fasting, head-shaving and kavadi are acts of devotion and penance to atone for misdeeds, earn spiritual merit and subdue the ego. Such austerities soften and relieve the burdens of karma, guilt, regret and troublesome memories. Through sacred rites and intense prayers, the Deity’s soothing blessings are received into the nerve system of the devotee. Penance, sincerely performed with the help of the angelic worlds, heals mental-emotional wounds and grants release from suffering.
GOD LOVES A PARADE
Hindu festivals often feature a grand parade in which the Deity is taken through the streets. The procession attracts huge crowds, energizing devotees and bringing God’s blessings out to the city from the confines of the temple. It is not the temple’s main Deity image that is paraded, but a smaller statue or symbol. An ornate chariot built of wood and silver is pulled with huge ropes by throngs of devotees. The procession in Kuala Lumpur begins in the heart of the city and proceeds 15 kilometers–a slow, 8-hour journey–to Batu Caves. There the Deity is carried up the flight of 272 steps to the Murugan shrine inside the cave.