Experiencing Thaipusam Festival in George Town
Hello my Steemit friends! I know, it has been a while since my last post. I get distracted easily but I will try again to post more frequently. It has been a busy couple of weeks traveling around. I last left you in George Town, Malaysia so I will pick up from there.
One thing you should know about me is that I am terrible at planning things, especially when it comes to making travel plans that are more than one day ahead. So I was very happy to find out that, by accident, I would be in George Town for Thaipusam.
Thaipusam is a Tamil festival that is celebrated during the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai which happened to be the last week of January this year. The festival in George Town attracts over one million visitors to the city each year.
I had never heard of the festival before but was excited to check it out. I don't know too many details about what happens during the festival and would like to avoid posting misinformation or trying to sound knowledgeable about something I'm not, so instead of explaining the festival I am just going to post pictures of what I saw. But if you are interested in learning more I do encourage you to research about the festival or if you have some knowledge please feel free to comment below!
The festival in George Town lasted for three days and I decided to go check it out on the second day. The main festivities were happening near the Waterfall Temple so I jumped on a bus and headed that way. When I arrived I was instantly surrounded by colour and music.
The streets were filled with dancing. Devotees perform a sacrifice through piercings and the carrying of physical burdens to the Waterfall Temple. (Again, this is a very simplified understanding of what is involved!)
The streets were lined with places giving out free food and drinks to the festival goers. I slowly made my way through the crowds until I reached the stairs to go to the Waterfall Temple.
I had to climb 513 steps to reach the top, but it is definitely worth it.
A view of George Town from the top of the stairs
After a few hours in the hot sun it was time to head back to my hostel, but not before grabbing my favorite snack in Malaysia: a cheese roti and an iced Milo!
I had an amazing time experiencing Thaipusam and I hope you enjoyed my little post about it. Thank you as always for reading and please leave a comment and tell me what you know about the festival. I always love learning more.
Until next time,
Chantelle
Great post!
Thank you for reading it!
How lucky you just happened to be in George Town for the festival. It looks like an incredible thing to experience. Thanks so much for sharing. BTW, I am a curator with @ocd and would love to nominate your post.
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Thank you so much for your support. It was an incredible experience indeed.
Iced Milo? That sounds very Aussie.
As one of the editors for @steemitworldmap’s daily #traveldigest, I would love to see this post pop up on http://steemitworldmap.com. If you're interested, simply go to the website, search for your location, click on code (down the bottom) and add a short description. It will then generate the code you need to copy and paste into your post (not the comments) to have it show up on steemit worldmap. Then your post will be on the map! There’s also a FAQ section if you need it.
Very Aussie, but it is everywhere in Malaysia!