Thaipusam is an Hindu festival which is celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (January/February). It is also celebrated not only in all the countries where the Tamil community constitutes a majority, but it is also celebrated in countries where Tamil communities are much smaller, such as Singapore and Malaysia.
The festival is also referred to as Thaipooyam. The word Thaipusam is derived from the month which is named Thai and Pusam, and it refers to a star that is at the highest point during the festival. The festival commemorates the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadam. There is a misconception among some people that Thaipusam marks Murugan's birthday; however, it is believed that Vaikhasi Vishakam, that falls in the month of Vaikhasi. May and June is Murugan's birthday.
The largest Thaipusam celebrations normally take place in Mauritius, Malaysia and Singapore. It is observed as a public holiday in some states in Malaysia, that include Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Perak, Johor, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur.
The temple at Batu Caves, near the Kuala Lumpur, attracts over one million devotees and tens of thousands of the tourists. The procession to the caves starts from the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur in the middle of the city and it proceeds for about 15 kilometers to the caves, it is an 8-hour journey culminating in a flight of 272 steps to the top. Thaipusam is also celebrated at the other cave site, the Sri Subramaniar Temple in the Gunong Cheroh, Ipoh, Perak and at Nattukottai Chettiar Temple alongwith Jalan Waterfall in Penang. Temple secretary P. Palaiya Sri Subramaniar Temple in Gunong Cheroh reported that almost 250,000 devotees participated in the festival of 2007, including about 300 kavadi bearers, while the other 15,000 came with milk offerings.
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