to all hindus, have a good thaipusam

breaking coconuts on the street of dato kramat road in penang, a ritual that is supposedly to cleanse the road for the chariot of lord muruga to pass.
(picture taken from bernama)

today is thaipusam. a singapore temple website has a good description of the thaipusam festival (though there, it is spelled as ‘thai pusam’ – seperate). of course if you go to the many tourism sites, there will be some short description of the festival too since thaipusam is part of a ‘tourist atttraction’.

the strait times dated 23 jan. had a good write-up too on thaipusam. it was stated there that the word ‘thaipusam’ comes from ‘thai’ the tamil calendar month (10th), which falls between january and february, and it is celebrated on the day of the ‘pusam’ star.