Singapore, Annual Indian cultural celebration, Thaipusam, Little India

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Thaipusam, Thaipoosam (Tamil: தைப்பூசம், Taippūcam ?)(Malayalam: തൈപ്പൂയം,Thaippūyam) is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (January/February). It is mainly observed in countries where there is a significant presence of Tamil community such as India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia,[1] Mauritius[2] Singapore, South Africa, Guadeloupe, Réunion, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar,[3] Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, and other parts of the Caribbean. The word Thaipusam is a combination of the name of the month, Thai, and the name of a star, Pusam. This particular star is at its highest point during the festival. The festival commemorates the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a Vel "spear" so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadman. There is a misconception among people that Thaipusam marks Murugan's birthday; however, it is believed that Vaikhasi Vishakam, which falls in the Vaikhasi month (May/June), is Murugan's birthday.

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Size: 5358px × 3611px
Location: Singapore
Photo credit: © John De Mello / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: asia, asian, day, daylight, daytime, ethnicities, ethnicity, faith, hindu, hinduism, horizontal, horizontals, indian, lifestyle, lifestyles, outdoor, outdoors, outsides, race, religion, religious, ritual, rituals, sg, singapore, singaporean, spiritual, spirituality, tamil, thaipusam, travel