Thaipusam

We were compelled to go to this festival as it is only held in two countries now. Here and Malaysia. Several hundred devotees spear their cheeks with long, shiny steel rods - often a metre long - and pierce their chests and backs with small, hook-like needles in penance. To many Thaipusam is the day of thanksgiving or atonement for wrongs.
Spectacular edifices or kavadis are often carried or pulled by the devotees with chains and ropes anchored in the skin of their backs or chests.

But kavadi carrying need not be so arduous. Just carrying a small pot of milk up the steps to be poured on the vel is enough. Most devotees do this.
Some parents carry newborn babies slung in a cloth-cradle hung on a pole shouldered at both ends by the mother and the father as thanks for a safe birth.
Some also carry kavadis made of wood or metal adorned with pictures or statues of Hindu deities, flowers and peacock plumes.
Others shave their heads bald as a symbol of humility and atonement.
It is not for the faint hearted...have a look at the following photos....