Part of the 101 Lost Kittens project by ASA (Artists for Stray Animals) in conjunction with the George Town Festival. Visit their Facebook page for more info; https://www.facebook.com/101lostkittens.
Tag: festival
George Town Festival 2013 Taking Off
The opening ceremony of George Town Festival 2013 at Esplanade with a showcase of kites flying. Held annually to celebrate the UNESCO World Heritage status of the city, George Town Festival 2013 is a month long festival of arts, music and various cultural performance. For more info, please visit http://georgetownfestival.com/.
George Town Festival 2013
Held for a period of one month annually to commemorate George Town’s 2008 recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage site status, the George Town Festival is the biggest event in Penang showcasing various works of arts, performance, music and film. This year, the festival will be running from 7th June to 7th July 2013. The official launching of the event will be on the 8th June 2013, 3.00pm at the Esplanade with a kite-flying ceremony featuring various kite makers and kite flyers from the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
For further information, please visit http://georgetownfestival.com/.
Qingming Festival in Penang
The Berapit burial ground at Bukit Mertajam is one of the largest place for Chinese from all over Penang to visit and pay respect to their ancestors during the Qingming Festival (also known as Tomb Sweeping Day and Clear Bright Festival).
A Chinese tradition, the Qingming Festival is an opportunity for members of a family to remember and honour their ancestors at grave sites. Young and old pray before the ancestors, sweep the tombs and offer food, tea, wine, chopsticks, joss paper accessories, and/or libations to the ancestors.
Penang Isle: Thaipusam Festival Scenes (II)
“The simplest kavadi is a semicircular decorated canopy supported by a wooden rod that is carried on the shoulders, to the temple. In addition, some have a small spear through their tongue, or a spear through the cheeks. The spear pierced through his tongue or cheeks reminds him constantly of Lord Murugan. It also prevents him from speaking and gives great power of endurance. Other types of kavadi involve hooks stuck into the back and either pulled by another walking behind or being hung from a decorated bullock cart or more recently a tractor, with the point of incisions of the hooks varying the level of pain.”
More scenes can be found HERE.
Penang Isle: Thaipusam Festival Scenes
For these devotees, they were pulling the large chariot for the Hindu goddess Kali via ropes which were hooked to the back of their bodies.
Piercing is very common for the devotees.
For some, it was a family affair.
Ropes with hooks attached at the back of the devotees.
Devotees usually prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer and fasting approximately 48 days before Thaipusam.
During this day, devotees will shave their heads and undertake a pilgrimage along a set route while engaging in various acts of devotion, notably carrying various types of kavadi (burdens). In Penang, the pilgrimage’s common destination is the Waterfall Hill Temple.
Hindus generally take a vow to offer a kavadi to a deity or god for the purpose of tiding over or averting a great calamity.
More scenes can be found HERE.
Thaipusam in Penang
Thaipusam is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community annually. In Malaysia, many Hindu devotees generally will flock to the Batu Caves in Selangor or the Waterfall Temple in Penang to celebrate this festival. One of the main highlights of the festival is the kavadi being carried by devotees seeking help from the God Murugan (as shown in the picture above).
Penang Isle: Nine Emperor Gods’ Temple
These few days mark the period of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival in Penang. Widely observed by Chinese people in Penang during a period of nine days, those who are participating in the festival dress all in white and will have abstinent from eating meat, poultry, seafood, and dairy products. The above temple is located at the Macallum Street Ghaut, George Town.
For the larger Nine Emperor Gods temple located in Butterworth, Penang, please go HERE.
Penang International Dragonboat Festival
The popular Plenitude Penang International Dragon Boat Festival was held for the 32rd time in Penang from 30 June to 1 July 2012 at the Teluk Bahang Dam. Fourteen international teams from South Africa, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Thailand, Philippines and New Zealand, as well as thirteen Malaysian teams had participated in the event.
Cultural Fest at George Town
