The Coolidge examiner., 1932-10-07


(WNU Service.)
A IORE weird than the famous
MI snake dance which was re-
Gently held by the Hopi In
dians perhaps, are the tire-walking
ceremonies held by East Indians of
the Straits Settlements.
This ceremony draws thousands
of devOtees to the ceremonial stage.
The yard of the temple in which
the main act is staged is thronged
with people and the streets for many
blocks around overflow with human
ity. Hindus, Chinese and Malays
make up the bulk of the audience,
but there are also tourists from
many parts of the world to witness
the spectacle.
The task Of vending your way
through this seething mob Is as
difficult as that of finding place
in New York subway express dur
ing the rush hours, and vastly more
unpleasant, for most of these hu-
man beings wear practically no
clothing. 1t Is with q thankful sigh
of relief that one sinks into a chair
on balcony and looks down upon
the throngs, composed chiefly of
spectators.
There are several hundred devo-
tees, including number of women.
Some kneel and touch the earth
with their foreheads, white others,
more devOut, literally grovcl in the
dirt.
Many of those who have made a
VOW to undergo torture have pre-
pared their bodies the preceding
month by some form of penance and
have refrained from eating for a
day before the event. While these
zealots are proceeding with their
tasks, a bed Of Goals is prepared.
Great piles of wood are burned to
embers; then the ashes are raked
into a nest bed about "a feet long.
At the end of the mass of live Goals
is dug a pool, which is filled with
milk brought to the spot in earthen-
ware jars. The images of the gods
are then brought from the temple
and placed near this pool of milk.
Dash Across the Embers.
When all seems in readiness, one
hears the sound of drums and a
stir of excitement sweeps over the
crowds This signifies the return
Of devotees from the Serangoon
road temple, whittier they go to COM
plete final preparations. The next
instant two men appear with a goat,
one holding the frightened crea-
ture's head and the other a hind
leg. Another man raises scythe-
like knife and in an instant the head
is severed from the body. A fourth
participant snatches the quivering
body and runs around the bed of
Goals and disappears in the throng.
By this time the uninitiated might
be feeling desperately i'll, but with
no possible chance of escape, for
the crowds are now in a frenZied
state and it would be unsafe TO
leave ones refuge. The staring eyes
of the devOtees seem glued upon the
idols at the other end of the path
of glowing embers. Finally the
priests who hold back the deyotees
begin to lash them with whips. and
one by one they make a dash. bare
footed, across the red-hOt Goals into
the pool of milk. Each participant
wears a short covering of cheese
cloth stained yellow by saffron wa
ter, and each carries in his hands,
clenched above his head, a twig of
green from tree supposed to pos
sess curative properties. The
wrists are tied together with yellow
amulets. If the person is pure, the
amulets will remain unbroken.
The priests sometimes strike
devotee several times, and then give
the wrists a stinging blow before
releasing him. No one flinches. nor
do any appear to have felt the cut
of the whip. Some run and some
walk slowly through the Goals. The
women seem much calmer than the
men. Some of them carry babies
in their arms.
Legend of Draupadi.
A legend seems to be at the base
of the origin of this ceremony. The
Pandus-fve brothers who reigned
in former Hastinapura, 60 miles
from modern Delhi, had one queen,
Draupadi, the deity invoked at this
festival. These five kings had some
cousins who envied their position.
tboir laodar nonOoivod