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FESTIVALS |
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With so many ethnic groups and religions represented in Singapore,
you'll be unlucky if your trip doesn't coincide with some sort of
festival , either secular or religious. Most of the festivals have no
fixed dates , but change annually according to the lunar calendar; check
with the tourist office. Bear in mind that the major festival periods
may play havoc with even the best-planned travel itineraries. Over the
month of Ramadan (between Jan & April) in particular, transport networks
and hotel capacity are stretched to their limits, as countless Muslims
return to their family homes; during Ramadan, Muslims fast during the
daytime. Many hotels and restaurants shut for up to a week over Chinese
New Year (early springtime). Some festivals are also public holidays (when
everything closes) .
Not all religious festivals are celebrated in public, but some are
marked with truly spectacular parades and street performances. In
springtime, during Chinese New Year , Chinese operas and lion and dragon
dances are performed in the streets, and colourful parades process along
Orchard Road. And at Thaipusam , entranced Hindu penitents pierce their
own flesh with elaborate steel arches, and process from the Sri
Srinivasa Perumal Temple to the Chettiar Hindu Temple. Similar feats are
executed by mediums on the occasion of the Birthday of the Monkey God (summer),
best witnessed at the Monkey God Temple on Seng Poh Road. Every year,
the whole island goes into an eating frenzy for the month-long Singapore
Food Festival (July), with almost every food outlet staging events,
tastings and special menus. The Festival of the Hungry Ghosts (summer)
is a good time to catch a free performance of a Chinese opera, or wayang,
in which characters act out classic Chinese legends, accompanied by
cymbals, gongs and singing; a few weeks later, the Moon Cake Festival ,
or Mid-Autumn Festival, is celebrated with children's lantern parades
after dark in the Chinese Gardens. For the nine nights of Navarathiri (autumn),
Chettiar Temple stages classical Hindu dance and music, and at the Sri
Mariamman Temple, the Hindu firewalking ceremony of Thimithi (autumn) is
marked by devotees running across a pit of hot coals. Deepavali
(Oct/Nov), the Hindu festival celebrating the victory of Light over Dark,
is marked by the lighting of oil lamps outside homes.
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