Hundreds of thousands have converged on Phuket to observe the spiritual and bloody rites of its annual Vegetarian Festival.
For several days during Phuket’s infamous Nine Emperor Gods Festival, women and men parade through the streets bristling with poles, swords, tools, sculptures, baseball bats, guns and religious icons piercing their flesh.
The final surreal night goes off with a bang as millions of unsafe and insane fireworks and other improvised explosive devices are hurled at processions of spirit-possessed mah songs as they wend their way through town, shrouding much of town in acrid, black smoke. This never fails to drive the spirits out and send them back to their homes. Phuket is the point of origin for Thailand’s Vegetarian Festival, where according to legend a visiting troupe of Chinese opera singers recovered from malaria only after supplicating to the gods and following a vegetarian diet nearly 200 years ago.
Vegetarian Festival begins in Phuket in this video by The Phuket News.
The festival is more widely recognized by Chinese-Thai families, during which they impose a strict vegan diet to purify their minds and bodies.
Tourism officials anticipate more than half a million visitors, mostly from Malaysia and Singapore, will bring in THB1.5 billion in revenue.
Although there are two Vegetarian Festivals this year due to a leap month in the Chinese lunar calendar, the second festival will be a muted affair with observances at two shrines from Oct. 24 through Nov. 1.
Photo: Camille Gazeau
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