Thai Pooya-Kavadiyattam

The Thaipooya Mahotsavam festival is dedicated to Lord Subramanya, the eldest son of Lord Siva and Goddess Parvathi. We had not planned our return to the coast too well... it is the day of this festival and every small town was packed .. with dancers, elephants, drummers and of course hundreds and thousands of people. The upside was that we did just about get through and saw some amazing sights in the process... It was hard to choose which image to show. Most were taken from our taxi, probably the best place to be .. We have been out in these festivals before and they are packed!!! Some other images .. this was very nearly my choice. This shows the very heavy head gear And this one is best not looked at if you are squeamish.. the boys have these spears put through their tongues. Last year we saw them do this .. and they are put into trance first .. the lemon acts as disinfectant and they are unable to eat anything spicy for a week or so afterwards ... not too surprising. I would be unable to eat anything for ever I think!!
And the elephants .. there were a lot out today... no festival is complete without them.