Calendar / Thaipusam
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Witness / Attend in Little India
Thaipusam
Jan 22, 2027ExpectedThaipusam 2027
No overall organizer. Hindu Endowments Board anchors the event; the rest belongs to the streets.
Dates & details verified against: Official event site ↗
Why go
Thaipusam is the most extraordinary act of devotion you can witness in Singapore, and Little India is where it begins. On the full-moon day of the Tamil month of Thai, Hindu devotees honour Lord Murugan by carrying kavadi, and the heaviest form is astonishing: a decorated steel frame borne on the shoulders, anchored to the body by dozens of skewers and hooks piercing the skin, some with spears through the cheeks and tongue, carried in a trance sustained by weeks of prayer and fasting. Others carry paal kudam pots of milk on their heads. Thousands walk the roughly three-kilometre route from the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple on Serangoon Road to the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple on Tank Road, cheered and chanted along by family and volunteers, through the night and into the day. The ritual symbolises surrender, penance and the personal journey of each devotee, and standing on the route as the kavadi bearers pass is a raw, humbling window into a living faith rather than a staged show.
When it runs
Held on the full-moon day of the Tamil month of Thai (January or February), when Hindu devotees carry kavadi and paal kudam in a roughly three-kilometre procession from the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Little India to the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple on Tank Road, coordinated by the Hindu Endowments Board and the two temples. First walkers leave from about 11.30pm the night before. Upcoming: 1 February 2026; 22 January 2027.
- Jan 22, 2027ExpectedThaipusam 2027
- Ran Feb 1, 2026Thaipusam 2026
Dates read confirmed where the organizer has published them, and expected where we've projected the recurrence. Always verify with the organizer before booking.
What to expect
Thaipusam is a single day set by the Tamil solar-lunar calendar, falling on the full moon of the month of Thai in January or February. Procession registration and the first walkers leave the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple from around 11.30pm the night before, and devotees must reach the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple by about 11pm on the day, so the flow runs through the night and across the following day. Upcoming dates: 1 February 2026 and 22 January 2027. Roads along the route close; the atmosphere is intense, crowded and reverent, so watch respectfully and follow the marshals.
Getting there & around
The starting temple, Sri Srinivasa Perumal, is a two-minute walk from Farrer Park MRT on Serangoon Road; the finishing temple, Sri Thendayuthapani, is near Fort Canning and Dhoby Ghaut MRT. You can watch free from any point on the route, with the temples at each end the most atmospheric but also the most crowded. Come well before dawn or through the morning for the fullest procession, carry water for the heat, dress modestly for the temples, and expect road closures across the Little India and Tank Road corridor.
Where it happens
Little India, Singapore.
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