Thousands of Hindu devotees brave embers at fire-walking festival

An estimated 4,000 devotees walked barefoot across a pit of hot coals on Oct 12 as the annual fire-walking festival returned to the Sri Mariamman Temple.

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The centuries-old ritual is the culmination of more than two months of prayers and ceremonies that began in late July.

Leading the fire-walking ceremony, also known as Theemithi, was Sri Mariamman Temple's chief priest Venugopal Thirunavukarasu, who has been serving at the temple since 2019.

He walked across the fire pit shortly after 6.15pm, following a 4km procession on foot that began at 4pm from Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Serangoon Road to South Bridge Road.

Other male devotees also walked across the bed of glowing embers, before cooling their feet in a milk-filled pit.

Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo attended the ceremony and observed the ritual from the temple courtyard.

Among the devotees was a father-son duo who have walked the fire pit together for more than a decade.