The full moon of the Tamil month of Panguni paints the Sembawang area with the colours of a Hindu festival, Panguni Uthiram, celebrated by the Holy Tree Sri Balasubramaniar Temple. The celebration of the festival, which involves a street procession of kavadis, is a tradition that dates back to 1967 during the days of the British Naval Base.
The temple back then was off Canberra Road within the base and the procession took a route from the laundry shop at the junction of Canberra and Ottawa Roads, down Canberra Road, left into Dehli Road and into Kowloon Road, before continuing back up Canberra Road, ending at the temple.
The procession this year, as with the one last year, took a shortened route from Canberra Drive, down Canberra Lane to Canberra Link and to Yishun Industrial Park A. Now surrounded by the obvious signs of urbanisation and change, the procession now has a very different feel to it than it did in the good old days.
More information on the celebration, as well as some photographs of the celebration of the festival at its original site, can be found at the following links on the temple’s website:
- http://www.holytreebalasubramaniar.com.sg/special-significant-events/panguni-uthiram/
- http://www.holytreebalasubramaniar.com.sg/about-us/archives/#
Posts and photographs from the celebrations of the previous years’ that I managed to catch can be found at the following links:
- Panguni Uthiram 2015: Panguni Uthiram 2015 in photos
- Panguni Uthiram 2014: Colours of April
- Panguni Uthiram 2013: The Silver Chariot returns
- Panguni Uthiram 2012: The sun rises on a Sembawang tradition
- Panguni Uthiram 2011: A lesser known Hindu festival with a Kavadi procession
More photographs from Panguni Uthiram 2016
The end point was at the temporary temple as the temple building is being rebuilt and will only be ready later this year.
The Long and Winding Road 