Portugal in Singapore

Good Friday at the Church of St Joseph at Victoria Street is a special occasion. The church’s commemoration of the solemn occasion is when the church’s Portuguese influences are best seen, especially in its elaborate re-enactment of the events that followed the crucifixion of Christ that is accompanied by the visual spectacle of a candlelight procession.

The church is thought of as the spiritual home of the small but prominent community of Portuguese Eurasians, many of whom have their roots in Portuguese Malacca, is thus commonly referred to as the “Portuguese Church”. It was established in 1853 by the Portuguese Mission, whose work in Singapore dates back to 1825 (the current church building dates to 1912). The former parish of the Portuguese Diocese of Macau (and before that the Diocese of Goa) was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Singapore in 1981, with the Macau Diocese maintaining links with the church until 1999, when the last Macau-appointed rector also left.

Here are some photographs from the church’s commemoration of Good Friday on 29 March 2024:

Candles are lit as part of the procession, transforming the grounds of the church into a sea of candlelight. While not as well attended as before — when the church grounds would be filled to the brim with many more spilling out onto Queen Street, the procession is still a visual spectacle.

The re-enactment involves a life size figure of the body of Christ, which is lowered from a cross. Similar re-enactments take place in churches in Goa, Macau and Malacca, as well as in churches elsewhere.

The letters INRI by the way represents the inscription “Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum”, which in Latin, translates into “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews” representing what was an inscription made in three languages (as per John 19:20) — Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.

The procession.

The procession re-enacts the journey that Christ’s lifeless body took after being lowered from the cross to the site of his burial — a Portuguese influenced tradition of the church.

The image of Our Lady of Sorrows, a representation of Mary, following the bier carrying the figure of Christ.

A member of the church’s congregation playing St. Veronica who is believed to have wiped the blood and sweat of Christ on his crucifixion on Calvary.

Not only has the crowd shrunk, the candles have too! I recalled candles being carried that were as much as six feet long and which had to be supported by pieces of wood.

More photographs:

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The sea of candlelight makes a return after six long years

Underneath the veneer of modernity that Singapore wears, is an island, a port and a city-state that celebrates its many cultural and religious influences. Among these influences are ones brought in by the Portuguese through the Portuguese Mission, which Portuguese naval surgeon and an early immigrant to Singapore Dr Jose d’Almeida, was instrumental in bringing in. The mission eventually established St Joseph’s Church in Victoria Street in 1853. The church that stands today is one that was rebuilt in 1912. Long administered by the Portuguese Diocese of Macau, it was transferred to the Archdiocese of Singapore in 1981, although appointments continued to be made by the Bishop of Macau up until 1999. The church is where the religious traditions brought in by the mission have been kept very much alive, one of which is its annual Good Friday service, which features a candlelight procession through its grounds.

Good Friday at the Portuguese Church

The procession, which has not been seen at the church for six long years (the church was closed from August 2017 to June 2022 for refurbishment and restoration), has always attracted a large crowd of worshippers, with many spilling out onto the grounds of the church and even onto the Queen Street behind the church, transforming the area into a sea of candlelight. While the crowds have dwindled over the years, the procession is still quite a spectacle and adds much colour and life to the Bras Basah.Bugis precinct.

Worshippers on the grounds of the church

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More photographs

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Dragon on fire

The fire of the dragon of Sar Kong was seen again last evening, making a reappearance on the streets around its lair at the Mun San Fook Tuck Chee temple. The temple introduced the fire dragon dance in the 1980s, importing a tradition from Tai Hang Village in Hong Kong that has its origins in 1880. Mun San Fook Tuck Chee’s dance of the fire dragon, which usually makes an appearance once every three years, now seems a significant cultural event in Singapore and draws crowds of observers as well as many photographers.

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The temple, Mun San Fook Tuck Chee (萬山福德祠), is thought to have its origins in the 1860s, serving a community of Cantonese and Hakka migrant workers employed by the area’s brick kilns, sawmills and sago making factories. The temple moved twice and came to its present site in 1901.

The dance of the fire dragon that is associated with the temple, although long a practice in its place of origin in Hong Kong, only came to the temple in the 1980s. The dragon used for the dance is the result of a painstaking process that involves the making of a core using rattan and the plaiting of straw over three months to make the dragon’s body. Lit joss sticks are placed on the body prior to the dance and traditionally, the dragon would be left to burn to allow it to ascend to the heavens.

More information on the temple, its origins and its practices can be found in the following posts:

• On borrowed time: Mun San Fook Tuck Chee
• The fire dragon’s lair 
• A dragon awakens

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Thaipusam 2023

Following two subdued editions in 2021 and 2022 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the celebration of this year’s Thaipusam on 5 Feb 2023, saw a return to long-held traditions — with a procession of kavadis or burdens (including spike or vel kavadis). The procession starts at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple along Serangoon Road and ends at the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple at Tank Road. The celebration of the Hindu festival is one of multi-cultural and multi-religious Singapore’s most spectacular. A good place to catch it or even photograph it is at the procession’s start point, the Sri Srinivasa Perumal temple in which elaborate preparations are made by kavadi bearers before they embark on the over 3 kilometre journey of faith to Tank Road.

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Do visit my numerous posts related to Thaipusam to find out more on the festival, which is celebrated annually on the day of the full moon during the Tamil month of Thai:

• Vel, Vel, Vadivel: Thaipusam in Singapore (2010)
• Sights Sans Sounds of Thaipusam in Singapore (2011)
• Thaipusam at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple (2012)
• An Annual Walk of Faith (2013)
• Faces of Thaipusam 2014 (2014)
• What colours the full moon of Thai (2015)
• The full moon of Thai (2016)
• The Thaipusam Chariot Procession (2017)
• Photographs of Thaipusam 2017
• The Silver Chariot through the streets of Chinatown (2018)
• Kavadis on Keong Saik (2018)
• Thaipusam 2018 at The Sri Srinivasa Perumal in photographs (2018)
• Bearing a burden through the streets of Singapore (2019)
• Thaipusam 2020

Photographs of this year’s festival can be found in the gallery below:

The Village of Lime on the Eve of Deepavali

Singapore, with its multi-cultural influences, is a city of festivals. Deepavali (or Diwali), the Hindu festival of lights that commemorates the triumph of good over evil was celebrated on Monday, just as decorations in anticipation of Christmas began making an appearance along Orchard Road.

Deepavali is one of two festivals, the other being Pongal, that is celebrated in a big way in Little India. Known as Serangoon, and also the village of lime, Soonambu Kambam or Kampong Kapor, Little India is one of Singapore’s three precincts that has retained an ethnic flavour. Recently named as one of the world’s coolest neighbourhoods for 2022, the precinct comes alive in the lead up to the two festivals. Not only is there a street light-up that in my opinion tops the annual Christmas light-up at Orchard Road, the neighbourhood also sees a often more than lively festive bazaar.

The festivities bring much life and colour to Little India, and certainly puts one in the mood to celebrate — especially this year with most Covid-19 pandemic restrictions lifted. With the eve of Deepavali falling very conveniently on a Sunday — a day when throngs of Singapore’s South Asian guest workers make their way to Little India, the streets seemed even busier with crowds descending on the precinct to soak in the atmosphere and to make last minute purchases of festive snacks and sweets, clothes, jewellery and festive decorations.

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Thaipusam 2020

Photographs of Thaipusam, taken in and around the Sri Srinvasa Perumal Temple. The colourful annual festival, celebrated by the South Indian Hindu community, sees a procession of kavadis carried along a 4 kilometre route from the Sri Srinvasa Temple on Serangoon Road to the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple (Chettiars Temple) on Tank Road.

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Posts related to past celebrations of Thaipusam in Singapore:

• Vel, Vel, Vadivel: Thaipusam in Singapore (2010)
• Sights Sans Sounds of Thaipusam in Singapore (2011)
• Thaipusam at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple (2012)
• An Annual Walk of Faith (2013)
• Faces of Thaipusam 2014 (2014)
• What colours the full moon of Thai (2015)
• The full moon of Thai (2016)
• The Thaipusam Chariot Procession (2017)
• Photographs of Thaipusam 2017
• The Silver Chariot through the streets of Chinatown (2018)
• Kavadis on Keong Saik (2018)
• Thaipusam 2018 at The Sri Srinivasa Perumal in photographs (2018)
• Bearing a burden through the streets of Singapore (2019)

Bearing a burden through the streets of Singapore

Chetty (or Punar) Pusam / Thaipusam

With a greater proportion of folks in Chinatown preoccupied its dressing-up for the Chinese New Year on Sunday, a deeply-rooted Singaporean tradition that took place in the same neighbourhood, “Chetty Pusam”, seemed to have gone on almost unnoticed.

Involving the Chettiar community, “Chetty Pusam” is held as a prelude to the Hindu festival of Thaipusam. It sees an especially colourful procession of Chettiar kavidi bearers who carry the burden from the Sri Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple on Keong Saik Road through some streets of Chinatown to the Sri Mariamman Temple and then the Central Business District before ending at the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple on Tank Road.

The procession coincides with the return leg of the Silver Chariot‘s journey. The chariot, bears Lord Murugan or Sri Thendayuthapani (in whose honour the festival of Thaipusam is held) to visit his brother Sri Vinayagar (or Ganesh) in the early morning of the eve of Thaipusam and makes its return in the same evening.

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More Photographs of Thaipusam in Singapore:

• Vel, Vel, Vadivel: Thaipusam in Singapore (2010)
• Sights Sans Sounds of Thaipusam in Singapore (2011)
• Thaipusam at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple (2012)
• An Annual Walk of Faith (2013)
• Faces of Thaipusam 2014 (2014)
• What colours the full moon of Thai (2015)
• The full moon of Thai (2016)
• The Thaipusam Chariot Procession (2017)
• Photographs of Thaipusam 2017
• The Silver Chariot through the streets of Chinatown (2018)
• Photographs of Thaipusam Preparations at the Sri Srinivasa Perunal Temple (2018)
• Kavadis on Keong Saik (2018)

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Pilgrimage to an isle of legends

The southern isles of Singapore are steeped in myths, legends and traditions. While most seem to lie buried in the sands that have expanded them, one that lives on is the pilgrimage to Pulau Tembakul – Kusu Island – that some accounts have as going back over two centuries to 1813.

Kusu during a pilgrimage season of the past – crossing the causeway at low tide. (photo: National Museum of Singapore on Facebook).

The annual event draws a steady stream of Taoist devotees. Although the numbers may have fallen from the highs of the 1960s and 1970s, thousands still make the short passage by sea every ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar (which began on 9 October this year) to seek favour and blessings at the island’s holy sites. The sites are a temple dedicated to the popular Taoist deity Tua Pek Kong, and three keramat-keramat, which in this case are the supposed graves of (Muslim) holy persons who are venerated. This practice has its roots in Sufism and is discouraged by mainstream Islam and has over the years found a following amongst the Chinese.

A devotee making her way to Kusu in 1971 (source: The Aged In Singapore: Veneration Collides With The 20th Century, Nada Skerly Arnold, 1971).

Two of the island’s three keramat-keramat (found at the top of 152 steps).

Perhaps the most popular of the island’s legends is one tied very much to the name Kusu. The island, which in its pre-reclamation days actually resembled a tortoise at high tide; its head, the outcrop on which the temple was built, and its body, the mound to which the head was linked by a natural causeway at low tide at the top of which the keramat-keramat are found. This legend, which also provides a basis for the pilgrimage, has it that a tortoise (or more correctly a turtle) had rescued two fishermen from drowning by turning itself into the island.  There are several more legends that provide an explanation for the origins of the pilgrimage, the keramat-keramat and the personalities that they are associated with – all of which are unverified (see: Kusu Island – on Infopedia).

Another perspective of the island: The tortoise in the early light of day

An old postcard showing Kusu Island before reclamation.

The Tua Pek Kong temple on the ‘head’ of the tortoise (source: The Aged In Singapore: Veneration Collides With The 20th Century, Nada Skerly Arnold, 1971).

The head of the tortoise (photo: Steffen Röhner on Panoramio).

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The pilgrimage season in photographs

Arriving pilgrims.

At the Tua Pek Kong Temple.

At the Tua Pek Kong Temple.

Ascending the steps to the keramats.

A deviotee.

A keramat.

At a keramat.

A keramat.

Obtaining blessings.

The Tua Pek Kong Temple.

The Tua Pek Kong Temple.

The Tua Pek Kong Temple.

The Tua Pek Kong Temple.

The keramats.

The Tua Pek Kong Temple.

More on the pilgrimage in modern times: Keeping alive Kusu Island pilgrimage (The Straits Times, 9 Nov 2017).

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Panguni Uthiram and a sugarcane kavadi

Besides being Good Friday, the 30 of March 2018 – being the day of the full moon – also saw several other religious festivals being celebrated. One, Panguni Uthiram, is celebrated by the Hindus on the full moon day of the Tamil month of Panguni. The celebration of the festival is an especially colourful one at the Holy Tree Sri Balasubramaniar Temple and involves a kavadi procession that goes back to the latter days of the Naval Base when the temple was located off Canberra Road. This year’s celebration was also of special significance – being the first to be held at its newly consecrated rebuilt temple building.

The rebuilt Holy Tree Balasubramaniar Temple. It was consecrated in February this year.

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The sugarcane kavadi

Seen at yesterday’s procession: a sugarcane kavadi. The kavadi is less commonly seen and is one with a baby slung from stalks of sugarcane that have been tied together, carried by the baby’s parents. The kavadi is used by couples to offer gratitude to Lord Murugan for the blessing of a baby.

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More photographs from the procession:

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Panguni Uthiram in previous years:

• Panguni Uthiram 2016: The Full Moon of Panguni / Northern Singapore’s Chariot Procession
• 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

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Kavadis on Keong Saik

In photographs: the start of the colourful procession of Chettiar kavidis from the Sri Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple on Keong Saik Road to the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple at Tank Road. The procession, along with a Silver Chariot procession, is held every year as part of Chetty Pusam on the eve of the Hindu festival of Thaipusam.

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Thaipusam in Singapore:

• Vel, Vel, Vadivel: Thaipusam in Singapore (2010)
• Sights Sans Sounds of Thaipusam in Singapore (2011)
• Thaipusam at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple (2012)
• An Annual Walk of Faith (2013)
• Faces of Thaipusam 2014 (2014)
• What colours the full moon of Thai (2015)
• The full moon of Thai (2016)
• The Thaipusam Chariot Procession (2017)
• Photographs of Thaipusam 2017
• The Silver Chariot through the streets of Chinatown (2018)
• Photographs of Thaipusam Preparations at the Sri Srinivasa Perunal Temple (2018)

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Thaipusam 2018 at The Sri Srinivasa Perumal in photographs

Thaipusam at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal in photographs:

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Posts related to past celebrations of Thaipusam in Singapore:

• Vel, Vel, Vadivel: Thaipusam in Singapore (2010)
• Sights Sans Sounds of Thaipusam in Singapore (2011)
• Thaipusam at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple (2012)
• An Annual Walk of Faith (2013)
• Faces of Thaipusam 2014 (2014)
• What colours the full moon of Thai (2015)
• The full moon of Thai (2016)
• The Thaipusam Chariot Procession (2017)
• Photographs of Thaipusam 2017
• The Silver Chariot through the streets of Chinatown (2018)

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The Silver Chariot through the streets of Chinatown

The eve of the Hindu festival of Thaipusam sees the Chetty Pusam Silver Chariot procession take place.  The procession is in two parts. The first leg, which takes place in the early morning, sees Lord Murugan (also Sri Thendayuthapani) brought from the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple at Tank Road to the Sri Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple at Keong Saik Road to spend the day with his brother Ganesh (Sri Vinayagar). A stop is made along this leg at the Sri Mariamman Temple, which is dedicated to Lord Murugan’s and Lord Vinayagar’s mother, Sri Mariamman or Parvati.

The Chariot bearing Lord Murugan makes a stop at the Sri Mariamman Temple along South Bridge Road,

A second part leaves the Sri Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple in the afternoon and makes its way back to the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple. Due to the early start of the main Thaipusam kavadi procession (brought about by a lunar eclipse occurring just after sundown on Thaipusam), the chariot is scheduled to leave at about 2.30 pm this afternoon. A procession of Chettiar kavadis will also leave the temple for Tank Road at about 1.30 pm.

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Photographs taken of the Silver Chariot procession this morning:

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Posts related to past celebrations of Thaipusam in Singapore:

• Vel, Vel, Vadivel: Thaipusam in Singapore (2010)
• Sights Sans Sounds of Thaipusam in Singapore (2011)
• Thaipusam at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Templ (2012)
• An Annual Walk of Faith (2013)
• Faces of Thaipusam 2014 (2014)
• What colours the full moon of Thai (2015)
• The full moon of Thai
• The Thaipusam Chariot Procession
• Photographs of Thaipusam 2017

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Good Friday at the Portuguese Church

Good Friday, which for believers marks the day Jesus Christ was crucified, has been commemorated in a very visible way on the grounds of St. Joseph’s Church for more than a century. Conducted  very much in the fashion of the Iberian peninsula, the elaborate procession takes place at the end of the church’s Good Friday service during which the crucifixion is reenacted using a life-sized image of Christ that is lowered and placed on a bier for the procession.

The church, known also as the Portuguese Church due to its origin in the Portuguese Mission and it having been a parish of the Diocese of Macau until 1981, is the spiritual home of the Portuguese Eurasian community. The community is one of the oldest migrant linked communities in the region. It is on Good Friday, when the religious traditions of the community are most visible, that we are perhaps reminded of this. The procession, the holding of which goes back more than a century, attracts large numbers of worshippers from all across Singapore and at its height in the 1960s and 1970s, saw thousands packed into the church’s compound with many more spilling onto Queen Street.

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More on the procession and the Portuguese Church:

• Good Friday at a slice of Portugal in Singapore
• The flicker of tradition
• A sea of candlelight
• A one hundred year old beauty
• A look into the Portuguese Church’s beautiful Parochial House

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Photographs of Thaipusam 2017

Today’s Thaipusam, an annual Hindu festival celebrated in Singapore that being a most colourful of spectacles, is perhaps also a most photographed. The festival sees a procession of kavadis – burdens carried by devotees of Lord Murugan – from the Sri Srinivas Perumal Temple at Serangoon Road to the Sri Thendayuthapani (Chettiars) Temple in Tank Road.

More information on the festival can be found at: http://sttemple.com/pages/16~thaipusam and at the following links:

• Vel, Vel, Vadivel: Thaipusam in Singapore (2010)
• Sights Sans Sounds of Thaipusam in Singapore (2011)
• Thaipusam at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Templ (2012)
• An Annual Walk of Faith (2013)
• Faces of Thaipusam 2014 (2014)
• What colours the full moon of Thai (2015)
• The full moon of Thai (2016)
• The Thaipusam Chariot Procession (2017)

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Photographs taken at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple this morning:

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The Thaipusam Chariot Procession

One of Singapore’s more colourful religious festivals, Thaipusam, will be celebrated tomorrow, primarily by the Hindus of the Southern Indian community. As always, the festival is preceded by a procession of a silver chariot carrying Lord Murugan, whom the festival honours.

There are two parts to the procession here in Singapore. The first part, which takes place in the morning, sees Lord Murugan transported from the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple at Tank Road to the Sri Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple at Keong Saik Road. Lord Murugan (also known as Sri Thendayuthapani) then spends the day with his brother Sri Vinayagar (or Ganesh) before making the return journey in the evening. On the first leg of the procession, a stop is made at the Sri Mariamman Temple, which is dedicated to Lord Murugan’s and Lord Vinayagar’s mother, Sri Mariamman or Parvati.

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Posts related to past celebrations of Thaipusam in Singapore:

• Vel, Vel, Vadivel: Thaipusam in Singapore (2010)
• Sights Sans Sounds of Thaipusam in Singapore (2011)
• Thaipusam at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Templ (2012)
• An Annual Walk of Faith (2013)
• Faces of Thaipusam 2014 (2014)
• What colours the full moon of Thai (2015)
• The full moon of Thai

The Chariot Route (2017).

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Photographs from the first leg of the procession this morning:

The Silver Chariot passes the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple along South Bridge Road.

At the junction of Kreta Ayer Road and Keong Saik Road.

Arriving at the Sri Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple.

Preparing to carry the image of Lord Murugan into the temple.

Lowering Lord Murugan.

Moving into the Sri Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple.

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Welcoming the stars of the Big Dipper

The coming of the Chinese ninth month brings two widely celebrated Taoist celebrations to Singapore, both of which  have a connection with water. One, the pilgrimage to the island of Kusu, is held over an entire month. This sees thousands of pilgrims flocking to the island, where a Tua Pek Kong temple and several hill top shrines are located. The other celebration, held over the first nine days of the month, is the Nine Emperor Gods Festival or Kew Ong Yah or Jiu Wang Ye (九王爷).

Devotees from the Kim San Temple at East Coast Beach.

The Nine Emperor Gods festival is especially interesting. The celebration proper begins with an invitation to the gods – nine stars of the Big Dipper, to descend to earth for an annual sojourn. The often very elaborate invitation ceremony is  traditionally held on the eve of the 1st day of the month. Taking place by the sea or a river, it involves the carriage of the gods on a sedan or a palanquin that is always violently rocked as a sign of a divine presence.

This year sees the invitation spread out over several days, with a few being held on the eve itself, which falls on Friday 30 September. One that I managed to catch over at East Coast Park was that of the Kim San temple from Jalan Ulu Siglap on 29 September, the photographs of which accompany this post. The festival ends with an equally grand send off, with the gods ascending to the heavens on a burning boat. More on this and the festivalcan be found in a previous post: The Burning Boat.

 

Ubin comes alive

Photographs taken mainly of the Teochew opera performance held on the first day of festivities this year (20 May 2016). The main festivities of the annual celebration take place today, the day of the full moon. The event lasts until Wednesday and will see nightly Teochew Opera performances on one of the last free-standing Chinese opera stages left in Singapore, except for the final night when a Getai will be held. More on the schedule of this year’s festival can be found in this post: The full moon on the fourth month on Ubin.

Good Friday at a slice of Portugal in Singapore

The Portuguese Church, as the Church of St. Joseph’s at Victoria Street is referred to, is where the religious traditions of the Portuguese Eurasian community in Singapore are kept alive. It is every year on Good Friday, a day of fasting, reflection and prayer, that we see the most colourful manifestation of these traditions, in an elaborate service which culminates in procession illuminated by the light of candles carried by the sea of worshippers that crowd the church’s compound.

The sea of candlelight every Good Friday at the Portuguese Church.

The procession, would in the past, attract worshippers in their thousands, some of whom would crowd the compound just to see the procession pass. Worshippers would also spill out to Queen Street and in more recent times to the lower floors of the podium at Waterloo Centre. It was at Queen Street where many candle vendors would be seen to do a roaring trade, offering candles of all sizes. I remember seeing some on sale that were of such a length that they needed to be propped up by pieces of wood, which we no longer see these days.

The head of the procession with a bier containing a life-sized representation of the body of Christ makes its way through the grounds of the church.

Worshippers carrying candles follow the procession.

While the candle vendors have been chased off the streets, the procession, even with the smaller crowds we see today, still adds much life and colour to the area. In keeping the traditions of a small and rarely mentioned community in Singapore alive, the procession also reminds us that what colours Singapore is not just the influences of the main ethnic groups but also of the smaller groups that have added to the flavour of Singapore’s rich and diverse cultural heritage.

Another view of the procession through the grounds.

A face seen in the clouds as the crowds gathered for the procession.

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More on the procession and the Portuguese Church:

• The flicker of tradition
• A sea of candlelight
• A one hundred year old beauty

 

The full moon of Panguni

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

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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.

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Northern Singapore’s chariot procession

Colouring the evening in a prelude to the Hindu celebration of Panguni Uthiram in Singapore is the procession of the silver chariot. Carrying the image of Lord Murugan, it makes a journey from the Sree Maha Mariamman Temple to the Holy Tree Sri Balasubramaniar Temple, stopping at designated points along the way to allow devotees to make offerings of fruit, flowers and incense. The festival proper, which features a kavadi procession similar to Thaipusam, follows on the day of the full moon and is a tradition in the Sembawang area that goes back to the latter days of Her Majesty’s Naval Base.

For photographs of Panguni Uthiram 2016, please visit this link: The Full Moon of Panguni.