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2025-07-15 00:09:59

Malaysian traditions that frighten and shock tourists

Malaysian traditions that frighten and shock tourists

In the old days, when holidays in the countries of Southeast Asia were not yet limited by the coronavirus epidemic, tourists who visited Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand did not tire of being surprised by the unusual traditions of the peoples inhabiting these countries.

In Thailand, the most Europeanized among them, hundreds of strange nationalities live near Phuket. Even more such tribes of varying degrees of development live in neighboring Malaysia, where you can get directly from Ty even without an additional visa.

Batu Caves

If you have undertaken a short-term visit to this country, you should choose one, maximum - two objects. We recommend paying attention to the batu cave complex, where functioning Hindu temples are located. To get to the main temple in the cave, you should overcome 272 steps of a damn steep staircase.

It is best to guess the arrival in the country in such a way that it fell on a religious holiday, for example - Taipusam. This is one of the most striking and shocking celebrations, and professional guides and travel agents do not miss the chance to offer an appropriate entertainment program, keeping silent about some extravagant details.

This is a national holiday of Hindus, the date of the event depends on the cycle of the moon and usually falls at the end of January or mid-February annually. In an Islamic country, however, a third of the inhabitants profess Hinduism. The community is centered around Kuala Lumpur and has lived here for several thousand years. Mountain temples are part of the cultural heritage, as well as the holiday itself.

A rare case - in an officially Muslim state, which is proclaimed at the constitutional level, someone else's holiday has an official status and is a day off - an excellent lesson in respect for other cultural communities and traditions!

This day is dedicated to the god Murugan, who was responsible in the pantheon of Hindus for the war. He was armed with a giant spear, which struck the forces of darkness - in this form he is depicted in paintings, in sculptures, described in legends. Opposite the entrance to the Batu caves is the world's largest gilded statue of the god on Earth, its height reaches 43 meters. The festival is held in honor of the god in commemoration of his victory over the demons who escaped from hell.

Murugana Festival

First, Indian women offer gifts to the god - jugs with coconut milk, nuts, sugar juice. This is necessary to enlist the support of the deity.

But that's just the beginning. Before moving on to the main "dish" of the festival, people make punctures on their skin, thread hooks and chains into the holes, hanging weighty loads on the other end. Some thus fix on themselves picturesque structures of bones and feathers of a peacock - according to legend, Marughan uses this bird as a transport. Having decorated themselves in this way, gentlemen (naked to the waist - suffering should be seen by everyone, not excluding tourists) begin a procession several kilometers long. They go barefoot, washing their feet in the blood along the way. Under the scorching heat and in the heat, the procession slowly moves towards the caves.

Unlike other cults, people who torture themselves are not monks or passion-bearers or ascetics – ordinary people who live a secular life. Such self-flagellation is necessary for them as a practice of spiritual purification. It allows you to free the spirit from unrighteous thoughts and deeds. It is also interesting that punctures are made very skillfully, almost bloodlessly. Cases of subsequent infectious infections are also rare.

From the pain, however, can not escape. Or leave? More on that later.

Exhausted by torment and heat, knocking down their legs, people are approaching the finale. It remains only to climb up, having overcome 272 steps, which in conditions of suffocating humidity is still entertainment. Having overcome the endless march, the participants of the procession remove the metal body kit and treat the wounds.

Not every tourist is able to climb up, even without hooks and needles. Those who overcome the rise are waiting for the cool bliss of the cave and the spectacle of the reverent silence in which Hindu believers reside inside the temple.

Some believe that people participating in the processions pre-use drugs that reduce sensitivity and fog the brain, but this is fraught: for drugs in the country you can get a huge fine and a huge - up to 30 years - a prison term, and responsibility comes not only for sale, but also for use, as well as storage. Others believe that we are talking about the practice of massive hypnosis or introduction into a trance with the help of rhythmic music and drumming.

Along with adults, teenagers and children take part in the event, imitating adults inflicting wounds on themselves in order to propitiate Murugan. From the sight of scarred children's bodies on the head stand on stand on its own, but everything that happens is based on the principle of voluntariness, there is no reason for concern.

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