5616 x 3744 px | 47,5 x 31,7 cm | 18,7 x 12,5 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
15 agosto 2010
Ubicazione:
Genapathy Hindu Temple, Effra Road, Wimbledon, London, England, UK
Altre informazioni:
Several thousand people took part in annual procession around the local streets from the Shree Ganapathy Hindu Temple in Wimbledon last Sunday which marked the end of the temple's annual festival. London, 15/08/2010 Wimbledon's Hindu temple was opened in 1981 in what had for some years been the Churchill Halls in Effra Road, but were built as the Anglican St Cuthbert's District Church in the 1890s. As well as housing the Shree Ghanapathy Temple the former church hall became the Sai Mandir prayer hall.As well as traditional temple activities for its Tamil community, the temple has a "more holistic approach to providing for the spiritual, moral and emotional needs of our devotees" with various talks, classes and health seminars. Together with the Sai Mandir it also takes part in a wide range of community projects in the London Borough of Merton and more widely, including meals on wheels, food for the homeless, and conservation work as well as welcoming local children, students, teachers and others to come and learn about HInduism. In recent years it has provided support for many Sri Lankan Tamil refugees.The annual procession goes around the block of streets from the temple, with a chariot carrying one of the temple's statues of Lord Ganesha, and two other deities were also being carried. Musicians played at the front of the procession and there was one adult dancer as well as a group of children. At the start and near to the end of the procession coconuts were flung onto rocks in large wooden boxes. Many shattered but others bounced out. The large groups of men and women took hold of the ropes on the chariot and the procession began. Women carried bowls with flaming camphor, and others walked with jars on their heads. At the rear of the procession were around 15 men stripped to the waist, rolling over on the ground holding a coconut in front of them.Boys poured water on the road in front of them, others used cloths to keep them clean and dusted them with holy water.
