Chris McGrath | Thaipusam

Photo © Chris McGrath-All Rights Reserved

I've posted about Thaipusam a few times already, but I never tire to view the varying angles and scenes that various photographers have featured on their websites.

Chris McGrath is one of the photographers who attended the version of this Hindu festival in
Singapore, rather than Malaysia where it's held annually 13 kilometres outside its capital city, Kuala Lumpur.

In Singapore though, the preparations for Thaipusam begin early in the morning at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Little India where the devotees start to perform the necessary rituals. Once these done, the procession moves through central Singapore to another Hindu temple about 2 miles away. The festival occurs on the full moon during the Tamil month of Thai, which occured on February 7, 2012.

On the day of the festival, devotees shave their heads and perform various acts of devotion, notably carrying heavy burdens, and carry out acts of self mortification by piercing their skin, tongue or cheeks with skewers and sharp hooks. 

Chris McGrath is a staff photographer with Getty Images, specializing in editorial and commercial assignments. His images are published in Stern, Newsweek, Time, Sports Illustrated, The Independent, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, ESPN the magazine, The Guardian, L'Equipe and on daily news and sport websites worldwide. His work has also been recognized with many industry awards including, POYi, NPPA, CHIPP, AIPP, The Atlanta Photojournalism contest, PX3 and the New York Press Photographers Association.

Thaipusam is on my bucket-list, but until I get the time and photograph it myself, I'm happy to feature images of this festival from various other photographers.