haipusam (Tamil:தைப்பூசம்) is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (Jan/Feb).It is also referred to as Thaipooyam or Thaippooyam in the Malayalam language.Pusam refers to a star that is at its highest point during the festival.The festival commemorates both the birthday of Murugan (also Subramaniam),the youngest son of Shiva and Parvati,and the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a vel (spear) so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadman.
The largest Thaipusam celebrations take place in Singapore,Mauritius and Malaysia[4].It is a public holiday in several states in Malaysia,including Selangor,Penang,Perak,Johor,Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur.
The temple at Batu Caves,near Kuala Lumpur,often attracts over one million devotees and tens of thousands of tourists [5].The procession to the caves starts at the Sri Mahamariamman Temple,Kuala Lumpur in the heart of the city and proceeds for 15 kilometers to the caves,an 8-hour journey culminating in a flight of 272 steps to the top.
In Malaysia,although rare,scenes of people from different ethnic groups and faiths bearing "kavadi" can also be seen.Interestingly,Thaipusam is also increasingly being celebrated by the ethnic Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia.[6] Thaipusam is also celebrated at another cave site,the Sri Subramaniar Temple in Gunong Cheroh,Ipoh,Perak and at the Nattukottai Chettiar Temple along Jalan Waterfall in Penang.Temple secretary P.Palaiya Sri Subramaniar Temple in Gunong Cheroh reported that about 250,000 devotees participated in the festival 2007,including 300 kavadi bearers,while 15,000 came with milk offerings.
