OUR RICH CULTURES, TRADITIONS, MUSIC AND LANGUAGES HIGHLIGHTED BY THE KAVAdy CEREMONIES

THAIPOOSAM 2014 KAVADY DEMONSTRATES THE RICH CULTURES, LANGUAGES, TRADITIONS AND MUSIC OF DESCENDANTS OF INDENTURED LABOURERS Our rich cultures, languages, traditions and music once again came to the fore when the annual Kavady religious ceremony was held throughout South Africa on Sunday, January 19. The Thaipoosam Kavady ceremony was held at temples all along the North Coast, in and around Durban, South Coast, Pietermaritzburg, other towns in the Midlands, Dundee, and in the Johannesburg-Pretoria region, Port Elizabeth, East London and Cape Town. I attended the Kavady ceremony at the Shree Sivia Subramaniam Alayam in Umdloti Drift, Verulam - about 40km north of Durban. Here I found more than 400 colourfully-dressed devotees, many of them with religious pins pierced in their bodies, totally immersed in the ceremony. A number of musical groups sang and danced to provide spiritual support for those devotees who carried heavy and huge Kavadies and had long pins pierced in their bodies. Despite the scorching sun all the devotees were fully overcome by the spiritual nature of the Kavady. "I have taken Kavady because it provides me time to reflect and to become more spiritual," said Mrs Natchandramah Narainsamy. "The Kavady ceremony relaxes me and takes me away from all my pains," she said. An official of the temple, Mr Barry Naicker said: "This Kavady ceremony provides spiritual upliftment for the devotees. Today we have nearly 400 devotees carrying the kavady. This past Wednesday we had more than 600 devotees carrying the Kavady. "Our temple is more than 100 years old and we are committed to ensuring that the needs of the devotees are attended to." One of the people who attended the Kavady to provide support for members of his family, Mr Richard Govender, said the commitment and spirituality shown by the people demonstrated that "we appreciate the rich cultures, languages, religions and traditions brought to South Africa by our indentured forefathers". "We must be really grateful to our indentured forefathers for blessing and leaving us with ceremonies such as the Kavady," said Mr Govender. "It was through their sacrifice, hard work and toil that we are able to continue to enjoy the Kavady ceremony. Our indentured forefathers were brought here to work as slaves on the sugar plantations 153 years ago but despite the conditions, they have managed to leave behind a rich legacy for us to follow."