portengaround: A Fire, Panguni Uthiram, and an Abba Dance Party

We woke up late this morning (Ruth, Matt, and I) and though we were pretty lazy early in the day, excitement picked up in the afternoon when we heard Jacob, Ruth's little brother, saying there's a fire in the trash chute. All of the flats in the HDB (Housing and Development Building) dump their trash down these chutes into a bin on the main floor. If someone, say, throws a lit cigarette down the chute, it can start smoking the rest of the trash in the bin. Since Ruth's flat is on the second floor, we are the first to get smoke rising up out of the bin. This also happened this past Christmas Day and both times they called the Fire Department. The Civil Defense (firemen) arrive packed into a little car called, The Red Rhino.

The Red Rhino. I'm pretty sure I made a Lego Fire Truck that looked like this one!

The Civil Defense putting out the trash fire while laundry hangs from bamboo poles above

The trash fire

With the fire out, Ruth, Matt and I started a few games of Sequence while life returned to normal in the kitchen. Only two games later (which don't take too long), we came out to the dining room for lunch and in that short period of time, Ruth's mom, put together this huge spread!

Not long after lunch was eaten, we had to start getting ready to go support Ruth's cousin as he participated in Panguni Uthiram, a Tamil Hindu festival. It was a completely new experience. Most participants are commemorating prayers of either joy, sorrow, or frustration and do so by piercing their bodies and carrying kavadis, attaching fruit, or pulling a ratham from one Hindu temple to another. During the set-up, there are prayers and blessings bestowed upon the participants and their rathams and a lot of singing, drumming, and chanting. Often, the participants' chests, backs, and sides are pierced by often thick metal spears and sometimes the face, arms, or legs are also pierced. Some attach fruit to their piercings. Those carrying kavadis (see below) will usually have upwards of 100+ thin spears poke into their skin. They are usually harnessed into their kavadis, but sometimes even their stomachs are pierced with the supports of these large metal displays. Anyone pulling a ratham will have their back pierced with large metal hooks. Ropes connect the ratham to the walker's back. The idea of the piercing is to show a type of bodily sacrifice to the gods. Each participant walks a route from one temple to another carrying milk, which is sacred, and upon reaching their destination the milk is poured over the walker as a type of anointment.

Here's a video of some of the walkers getting ready to start their procession.

Someone getting ready to start their walk. Ropes are attached to a ratham.

Man with oranges attached to the piercings in his body

Man carrying a kavadi. Each tip of the metal spears is pierced into his skin. The kavadis are typically elaborately decorated and often adorned with peacock feathers, which are sacred. All walkers go barefoot.

Ruth's cousin preparing for his walk. They will usually participate in this event one, three, or five times, though some continue each year of their life. This is her cousin's third, and last time, so his ratham (the shrine) was very elaborate.

Getting hooks pierced into his back.

All walkers will have their tongue and cheeks pierced with spears, as well, so during their walk they are totally focused on their thoughts and prayers and their sacrifice.

During the walk, Ruth's mom sings songs in Tamil, the Indian language spoken in southern India, where this festival originates.

Ruth's cousin on his walk, pulling his ratham.

A view along the route from one temple to the other - a distance of over a mile

Here are some other photos from the festival:

This man went all out. He not only carried the kavadi and had all of the spears pierced into him, but he had the four vertical poles supporting the kavadi pierced into the skin around his stomach and lower back. AND he had hooks pierced into his back and also attached and pulled a ratham during his walk. In this photo he is facing his ratham, which is lit up. His party was nice enough to let our pass them on the route because he was taking his time and had a very festive group of supporters with drums, cymbals, and singing.

...I really hope I did not fall too far from understanding Panguni Uthiram, but if I did, please do not think of me as ignorant. It was a lot to take in!

After Panguni Uthiram, we quickly headed back to Ruth's flat to change our clothes and put on some party ones because it was time to go to her Uncle Patrick's 50th Birthday Celebration. And a party, indeed! We arrived late so there was already a lot of dancing going on - mostly to 80s/90s music, the majority of which was Abba! Ruth has a very large family and everyone there was so friendly and welcoming. One of her cousins is an Elvis impersonator and even performed a few songs for us (no photos of that, sadly). We had a good time dancing and didn't get home until 3am! Talk about a packed day!