Earlier start to Thaipusam procession

Thousands of Hindu devotees started on the annual Thaipusam procession earlier yesterday, walking from Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Serangoon Road to Sri Thendayuthapani Temple in Tank Road, about 3km away. This year's procession will, for the first time, be cut short as Hindu temples will close before a lunar eclipse, which takes place from 6.51pm to 11.11pm today. The procession began at 9.30pm yesterday and will end at 6.30pm today. Hindus consider eclipses inauspicious because "light and energy from the Sun or Moon are blocked and cannot reach the Earth", said the Hindu Endowments Board. The annual Hindu festival, which falls on the full-moon day of the Tamil month of Thai, is celebrated in honour of Lord Subramaniam, also known as Lord Murugan, who represents virtue, youth and power, and is the destroyer of evil.