We were invited by Pit, a member of the staff at Zacks, to see the Annual Hindu Fire Walking Ceremony at the small temple on the Island. Just take a look at the pics…..wow!!

The Hindu’s are only 6% of the population and this ceremony takes place all over Malaysia. Basically, people pray for good fortune e.g. new job, recovery from serious illness etc and commit to walk the fire. Some more devoted pilgrims also commit to walk with the hooks, the cage or some other device. The have such faith that they believe that they will be unharmed by the fire. Cheryl stood about 2-3 meters from the fire and she could feel the heat from it. Every now and again they would fan the fire just to make sure it was hot!!

The Holy Man assessed everyone before they walked and some were refused the right to walk. Some also collapsed at the end after soaking their feet in the pit of milk at the end. No women were allowed to walk across the pit, only men. One pic shows the Holy Man carrying a small child as thanks for a prayer come true.

It was a jaw dropping experience, it was for real and not a show for the tourist. We have never seen such devotion to a religion and we were both completely “wowed” by the whole event.

Alex, this was “hard core” fire walking and nothing like the “jolly one” in Japan.