Wanna Be Snobbery: Thaipusam

What's that?

Oh, just a guy with 108 pots of milk hooked into his back.

This was the first of many of the jaw-dropping sights that we saw during Thaipusam, a Hindu celebration held in Singapore. It honors the Hindu deity Subramaniam, and devotees show the sincerity of their faith by, well, skewering themselves with lots of sharp things. And then walk a long way.

The devotees get ready by bathing at a local temple.

There is lots of prayer, incense burning, and beating of drums to get the participants pumped up and ready. They've already fasted and gone without sleep for a couple of days by now, and so they're already in a sort of daze.

Sometimes the people who do the skewering are professionals, usually they are not. This place is not for the weak of stomach. I think they start with the face and then move on to the back, etc.

This guy has meat hooks in his back, and is planning on hauling this portable shrine the whole way.

These cage-like structures are called "kavadi", can weigh up to 40 pounds or so, and are supported by, you guessed it, skin.

You don't have to be Indian, or even a traditional Hindu to participate.

The walk starts at one temple and then ends about 4km away at another temple. This may not seem like far, but remember that Singapore is usually 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity. Note also that many of the participants have their tongues and cheeks skewered, which makes it a bit difficult to take a drink of water.

Try this: Stick out your tongue, grab it with your fingers, and try to swallow. Now imagine your fingers are a skewer, and there is stabbing pain every time you do this. Hard core.

Young and old alike do this together, with the family following along and shouting encouragements along the way.

At the end, they go through the temple for the blessing, and then finally can remove the skewers. This alone can take an hour, especially if you're wearing an especially large kavarti.