Thaipoosam Cavadee Mauritius

Today, it's Thaipoosam Cavadee. It is celebrated once a year, usually in January or February, by the Hindus of Tamil origin. There is a legend behind the festival, but I am not going into these details in this post.

I went to Riche Fond to watch the Cavadee procession (since it is the nearest place from where I live) with my friend Kishan. We arrived at the river at around 10am. There were hundreds of worshippers along with their family, friends and relatives who came to support them. The final prayers were being performed before the start of procession.

The participants of the festival usually pierce their cheeks, lips, tongues and bodies with needles. Some of them also have dozens of limes with tiny hooks hanging on their chest, stomach or back. For those who don't pierce their tongues, tie pink scarves over their mouths. All the participants usually have a cavadee that they will carry on their shoulders throughout the procession. As I have written in "The Cavadee" post, the cavadees are wooden frames (can be of any size) stretched all over the shoulders and are well adorned with flowers, palm leaves, bells, peacock feathers and statues of god. There is also a pot of milk attached to each cavadee. Most of the women, who won't carry a cavadee, will have vases full of milk on their heads.


The procession started at around 10:30am. Oh yes, I had a glass of juice right after the start of the procession (usually, it is free for everyone). A group of girls was singing religious songs and dancing at the front in the procession. There were also some cars playing the religious songs via the loud speakers. The procession was a walk (which includes singing and dancing by the devotees) of a few kilometres from the river at Riche Fond, going through St Julien Village and ending at the temple (i.e. kovil) in Riche Fond itself. Once the participants reach the temple, they will perform their prayers, make offerings to the god Muruga and get all their piercing removed.




After the procession, I came back home. It was around 1pm. Now, I will have the traditional food at my neighbour’s place (the one who I helped in making the cavadee) . Thaipoosam Cavadee is indeed a spectacular event in Mauritius. And though I don’t celebrate it, it is always nice to attend the procession and afterall it's once a year ;-). Once again, Happy Thaipoosam Cavadee to all the worshippers, devotees, participants and friends!

Kavadinfoblog likes to thank Ashvin Gunga for sharing his story here

The video down here is also shot by Ashvin



Kavadimail