Hindus celebrate Thipusam in Singapore

Singapore, Jan 23: Some 10,000 Indian Hindus took part in the annual Thaipusam festival. Devotees walked barefoot, pierced bodies with skewered and carrying milk pots over a 4.5 km route from Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple along Serangoon Road in the Little India shopping precints to the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple at Tank Road on the outskirts of the central business district.

Organisers said some 7,500 devotees carried milk pots and at least 400 others carried the ''spike and chariot'' 'kavadis' as offering to Lord Murugan.
Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, said such large-scale festivals show that religious tolerance is a value upheld in Singapore. ''It is good that in Singapore, we can really celebrate our multi-racialism and multi-religious freedom and that Hindu Singaporeans feel free to practice their faith and the rest of Singapore respects this,'' Channel News Asia today quoted the Minister as saying.

UNI