Temple celebration 12 July 09

At the temple on the hill above our colony, there has been a celebration going on for several days. On Sunday, there was a special celebration where people come worship and eat together. I went with my neighbors Jayanthi, Shemi and Shriya, and Mariama..

Walking to the temple

Jayanthi circumambulating this series of dieties

Outside behind the temple

The back of the temple from the hillside behind

A firepit being prepared for someone to walk over the coals

The crown forming. At this point I was settled facing them with a perfect shot of the firewalking.

The coals are prepared, and holes at either end are filled with water.

Ritual around the fire pit (from my perfect photo perspective).

Further ritual

The crowd is thickening; this is a window in the apartment next door.


This video is of the first procession that came through before the fire walking. You'll see how my perfect photo spot got seriously impaired. And forgive the amateurness of my video.


This is a video of the second procession before the firewalking. When the video ends, I am starting to be crushed in a growing surge that finally made me give up my dream of filming a man walking on hot coals. After waiting for over a half hour, I never did see it.

When the fire walker procession left the fire pit, we all sat on the ground to eat. Banana leaves are spread before us to eat on.

Once I lost my fire walking photo op, I failed to turn off the video function of my camera. So everytime I tried to take a picture, I ended up with a video. Please forgive me. I left this one in because it shows you the guys running around serving food.

A view of the hills on the wayhome.

Shriya, Bharat (Jayanthi's son who met us on our way down), Jayanthi, Mariama, Shemi

We stopped at our neighbor Shashi's new store.

Shashi