Significance of Thaipusam
Posted on: 24/Jan/2017 11:47:52 AM
Thaipusam is a very important festival celebrated by the Tamil community. The Tamil Diaspora around the world, including countries like Malaysia, USA, Sri Lanka and Thailand, celebrate this colourful festival.
Thaipusam is celebrated each year on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai which falls in the month of January/February of the English Calendar. The word Pusam, refers to a star that is at its highest position during the festival.
Thaipusam celebrates the birth anniversary of Lord Murugan, also referred as Subramanian, the youngest son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. The festival also memorializes the mythological tale when Lord Murugan vanquishes the evil demon Soorapadman with a vel (lance). The Thaipusam festival is celebrated for ten days, starting the day of the full moon. Thousands of devotees gather in temples to prove their devotion to the Lord.
According to Skanda Puranam, the legend of Murugan, and Thirupugal are divine verses on Murugan, adhere to Shaivam principles. Murugan is the embodiment of Shiva`s light and wisdom. Devotees pray to him to overcome obstacles and vanquish evil. The motive of Thaipusam festival is to pray to God and receive his grace so that bad traits are destroyed.
Devotees prepare for the festival by spiritual cleansing themselves through prayer and fasting for approximately 48 days. On the day of the festival, devotees shave their heads, and set out for the pilgrimage along a set route while engaging themselves in various acts of religious observance, especially carrying different types of kavadi (burdens). Some devotes simply carry a pot of milk as a kavadi, some carry burdens on the flesh by piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with vel skewers. One of the hardest penance and one the most amazing practice in the festival is the vel Kavadi.
