Aprendo("I am always learning")

So often understanding escapes a person’s thought faculties, especially when it comes to matters of faith. Kavady's no exception to the aforementioned rule. I spent this years festivities at the Clairwood Temple Grounds, solely under the premise of observation for educational purposes. Thought I'd be spending the day "moshing" about crowds of Hindus with greater conviction than I.
Thai Poosam Kavady is a Hindu religious festival dedicated to Hindu deity Lord Murugan that is celebrated by Tamil people all over the world.
When we arrived at the Clairwood temple, we were directed to the temple field. The field was dense with people praying and preparing for the transient travels of some of the Kavady carriers.

Snapping away at the participant seemed invasive, as after I'd witnessed a man getting a selection of hooks pierced into his torso- was overcome with tears that completely baffled me. As a woman I'm used to crying at certain intervals of my month- but this time astounded me. It was not sadness, and that's the only thing I'm sure of.
Once the crying had subsided, I continued to explore the grounds.

Where I met a little girl, Malaika Naidoo.
Malaika(10) I soon found out thanks to her beaming mother, had been adopted at birth. She's of african descent. She first witnessed a Kavady festival at the age of 7 when she travelled to India with her parents. On that very day this illuminating kid had made her decision to partipate in the festival.
When asked why she'd taken to the festival: "It’s a discipline"
Her parents Joey and Rani Naidoo are overjoyed with their child's conviction."We are so proud that kids at this age are carrying Kavady abd celebrating their culutural roots", said Mrs. Naidoo.I meandered around the ground trying to identify them. Trances, I deduced, can be identified by the demeanor of the person in the grips of the trance. A person who embodies the Hanuman trance, for example, puffs their cheeks up as if to emulate the monkey gods physicality and carries and object that resembles South Africa's "Knobkerrie".The festival goes on for ten days with people frequenting the grounds. Numbers dwindle towards the end, but at its peak there may be as many as ten thousand people passing through.At the end of what was a most engaging experience, I regailed my emotional upheaval with one of the participants in the temple. Her response unnerved me. She said that people who have that kind of reaction, usually have a transient ability about themselves