Phuket Vegetarian Festival, in Phuket Thailand
Wed, Sep 26th 2007, 00:00
Thailand is home to one of the world's most curious events: the Phuket Vegetarian Festival
The Phuket Vegetarian Festival of 2007 takes place on 11 October 2007 - 19 October 2007
Phuket comes alive in the month of October each year for the Vegetarian Festival (or jia chai in Hokkien Chinese dialect).This festival (thought to have originated from the migrant Chinese tin miners back in 1825) is held each year to conjure up good luck for the community in the year ahead.
Locals of Chinese ancestry wear white and observe a strict 10 day vegetarian or vegan diet for the purposes of spiritual cleansing and attracting good fortune.
The Vegetarian festival kicks off on the first evening of the 9th lunar month. A pole is raised at each temple to invite the gods to descend. For 9 days sacred rituals are performed at shrines and temples around town, and visitors throng to Phuket to see the spectacular street processions.
Chosen devotees (called ma song -” entranced horses”) perform feats at the festival believed to draw out the evil in the community and atone for the bad things that they have done. This will ensure that they all receive good luck in the year ahead.
They perform treacherous feats like bathing in hot oil, walking over hot coals, climbing ladders with bladed rungs or thrusting spiked objects through their cheeks or naked backs. It is believed that noise drives away the evil spirits so these rituals are accompanied by the deafening clash of cymbals, ceremonial drums and exploding fireworks.
The Phuket Vegetarian Festival ends with a bang (literally) on the 9th day - merit making ceremonies are held at each temple ending in a final send-off of the gods with the most spectacular firework display of the festival.
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