We drove from the Chettinad towards the Palani Hills in the west of Tamil Nadu on the border with Kerala, to stay in our remote ridgetop accommodation. The journey was full of interest as it always is in India – today pilgrims and a very special ceremony invite.
Many, many pilgrims were heading in the same direction as us, walking barefoot along the road (some looking more used to it than others). Many of the men were wearing wonderful blue-green garments with matching bags:
Others were wearing orange:
There were groups of women, often wearing yellow and orange, though they seemed to be taking a more relaxed approach to the whole thing:
And those who weren’t on pilgrimages just wanted their photos taken like this poseur:
As we drove along a busy road, we heard very loud drums and then saw across the road a procession of women with baskets of fruit on their heads alongside the musicians making this racket:
Of course, I got out of the car to take photos and was spotted by the group who waved at me. And then a man from the group crossed the road to ask us to come over for five minutes to join the ceremony:
Turns out that this was the ear-piercing ceremony, a significant Hindu Samskara (rite of passage) in Tamil Nadu when a child’s ears are pierced. According to the AI overview, it’s a joyous, large-scale family event often involving the maternal uncle (I think that’s who the guy above was). It’s done for both boys and girls between the ages of 1 and 5.
We joined the noisy party as it filed towards the ancestral temple and were pushed to the front where many, many photos were taken:
We were made to dance (video taken by our driver Arun!) to the deafening music:
And the music was deafening – the mad dancers and drummers performed for the camera (turn the sound up and imagine that magnified ten times):
Finally we got to see the child who was about to have their ears pierced, poor thing!
After all that excitement, we had to stop for masala chai to revive us:
The next blog will be nature, nature and more nature – we promise!
How refreshing that for once it is the men who are expected to coordinate their ensemble from headdress to handbag whereas the women can take a more relaxed attitude. The music is certainly deafening, and restricted to percussion it seems, which might be a factor here. Glad to se you were able to throw some shapes, as I believe the young people call it, while in India.
I agree about the pilgrims – the women did seem more relaxed but the men always smiled if we asked to take their photo. The drumming was wild – and the dancing compulsory – that woman in the middle was never going to take no for an answer. Our driver said five goats had been killed for the feast so drumming, dancing and eating all afternoon.
Amazing to see you both dancing!!
A very rare sight! Rarer than seeing a tiger on a safari I should say..
What a fabulous people day….
Yes, indeed! The crowd at the earpiercing party were definitely disappointed we didn’t stay for lunch.
Lovely photos, happy people!
Indians in the countryside do seem to have lots of celebrations – we passed an event today where people were gathering to celebrate a new house. And weddings! V big business…
The whole blog made me laugh. What a privilege to be so warmly received, indeed forced to join in!!
It was huge fun, even without staying for the goat feast. And there was no chance of standing politely to one side, smiling in that very English way ( bit stiff, bit uneasy, trying to be polite – I speak for myself, M doesn’t have these instincts)…