Always Travelling
February 06, 2007
great name
There is a minesite in outback WA called "Windy Knob"...
hahahahHAAHHAhahahaah
how immature of me.
hahahahHAAHHAhahahaah
how immature of me.
February 05, 2007
Cavadee
My girlfriend Pascaline was invited by a Tamil friend of hers to observe/partake in the festival of Thaipoosam Cavadee (various spellings including Kavady and Kavadee) last Thursday. I was intrigued (and a bit jealous I wasn't there too) as she recounted to me the practices and rituals that happened on the day. At that point in time I didn't realise that I had heard of a similar festival in Singapore - celebrated on the same day by the Tamil community and with perhaps more fervour than in Mauritius.
I have since done quiet a bit of research and compiled a bit of a notebook here, that should be a great resource for anyone wanting to know about Thaipoosam Cavadee. I love wandering through wikipedia, for instance I started at Thaipoosam Kavady, then to Murugan and Tamils, then to Dravidian people, then to Sri Lankan Moors and the Madras Presidency, and so on. As a side note I'd like to remark on how awesome it is to be able to go to any image search engine, such as Yahoo Images or Google Images, and find a veritable plethora of pictures of festivals such as Cavadee in Mauritius. Flickr is even better, and I found quality photos taken only days ago of the temples, the procession, and close-ups of the piercings and cavadees.
Cavadee is a Tamil festival and national holiday in Mauritius. One of the many descriptions available on touristy websites:
Finally, the list of national holidays in Mauritius caught my eye - national holidays for everyone on the special religious & cultural occasions of all significant groups within Mauritian society:
There are 13 public holidays in the year, of which the following are fixed:
I have since done quiet a bit of research and compiled a bit of a notebook here, that should be a great resource for anyone wanting to know about Thaipoosam Cavadee. I love wandering through wikipedia, for instance I started at Thaipoosam Kavady, then to Murugan and Tamils, then to Dravidian people, then to Sri Lankan Moors and the Madras Presidency, and so on. As a side note I'd like to remark on how awesome it is to be able to go to any image search engine, such as Yahoo Images or Google Images, and find a veritable plethora of pictures of festivals such as Cavadee in Mauritius. Flickr is even better, and I found quality photos taken only days ago of the temples, the procession, and close-ups of the piercings and cavadees.
Cavadee is a Tamil festival and national holiday in Mauritius. One of the many descriptions available on touristy websites:
Everywhere on the island, Mauritians of the Tamil faith celebrated the Thaipoosam Cavadee, the most important festival of this community. It is a remarkable expression of religious fervour and sacrifice. The event is marked by the striking processions of the devotees carrying their colourful cavadees to the temples, dancing and singing to the sounds of religious music. The devotees, their bodies pierced with needles (called vels), wear only fuchsia-coloured clothes and walk barefooted despite the scorching roads, accompanied by family and friends. The festival is preceded by 10 days of fasting and prayers.
This festival takes its root from an ancient Tamil legend, which tells the story of Idumban, a disciple of the guru Agattiyar. The guru ordered his disciple to go in the mountains and to bring down 2 summits attached to his cavadee (which is a simple wooden stick used to carry loads). On the way down, the god Muruga transformed himself into a little boy and hid in one of the peaks in order to make the cavadee heavier. Poor Idumban did not recognise his god and fights with the boy. Muruga killed him with a spear but the guru prayed to the god Muruga to bring Idumban back to life. The prayers are answered and Idumban forgiven. This is the reason why the followers believe that their prayers will be answered and their past sins forgiven when they go through the rituals and carry their cavadee to the temple.
This festival takes its root from an ancient Tamil legend, which tells the story of Idumban, a disciple of the guru Agattiyar. The guru ordered his disciple to go in the mountains and to bring down 2 summits attached to his cavadee (which is a simple wooden stick used to carry loads). On the way down, the god Muruga transformed himself into a little boy and hid in one of the peaks in order to make the cavadee heavier. Poor Idumban did not recognise his god and fights with the boy. Muruga killed him with a spear but the guru prayed to the god Muruga to bring Idumban back to life. The prayers are answered and Idumban forgiven. This is the reason why the followers believe that their prayers will be answered and their past sins forgiven when they go through the rituals and carry their cavadee to the temple.
Finally, the list of national holidays in Mauritius caught my eye - national holidays for everyone on the special religious & cultural occasions of all significant groups within Mauritian society:
There are 13 public holidays in the year, of which the following are fixed:
- New Year January 1st and 2nd.
- Independence/Republic Day March 12th.
- Labour Day May 1st.
- All Saints Day November 1st.
- Christmas December 25th.
The remaining seven public holidays are religious festivals whose dates vary from year to year.
- Thaipoosam Cavadee January/February.
- Maha shivaratree February.
- Chinese Spring Festival January/February.
- Ougadi March.
- Id-El-Fitr May/June.
- Ganesh Chaturthi September.
- Divali October/November.
Archives
January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 December 2007 January 2008
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]