Warning: This is a little graphic
This email is going to be a little graphic...it is nothing crazy, but I thought I would warn you just so that if you don't feel like hearing some gross things or want to shield the eyes of an innocent child, you can.
Thaipusam is an Indian festival all about showing your devotion to God, which sounds pretty great, right? Well, the way they do it is interesting...
First, the people that want to participate choose a God that they are going to honor, and they make a statue-thing that they can wear on their shoulders to honor him/her. And then it gets really gross...then they fast for days and days, and then they pierce themselves with swords and hooks. Most people put a small rod through one cheek and out the other, and a lot but hooks in their back with things hanging on them...some people even put hooks in their back and then carry something behind them.
After they do that, they walk all the way down this long road while listening to super loud music, and dance all the way until the reach a Hindu temple that is at top of a mountain at the end of the road.
It was super fun to see, but it is just so crazy! I have never seen anything quite like it...it made me glad that our culture is that if we want to show devotion to God, we can do it through reading, and not piercings haha.
Pictures
1. To start off easy, I attached a picture of me sleeping next to an Indian man on a boat.
2. One man with hooks in his back.
3. Elder Anglin with a snake around his neck.
4. The temple they hiked to.
5. Can you find the white man in the sea of Indians?
6. A guy with a lot of bells and one through the mouth.
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