Carlo Cretaro
Chinese Vegetarian Festival
I often get asked about the most bizarre or weirdest events that I've seen on my travels.
The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is easily up there in the top 3.
Each year in Phuket, the festival takes place over 9 days. It celebrates the Chinese community’s belief that if they don’t eat any meat or various stimulants during the 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar that they will achieve long lasting physical and mental health.
The extreme celebrations are what make this festival world famous. It’s not clear where the exact origins of the festival came from, but one thought is that a nomadic Chinese opera group fell ill while performing on the island of Phuket.
During the 9 days I spent watching and documenting this festival unfold, I witnessed every sort of object being impaled through the cheeks of its participants.
Not only that but everyone seemed to act as if they were possessed.
Chinese Vegetarian Festival
I often get asked about the most bizarre or weirdest events that I've seen on my travels.
The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is easily up there in the top 3.
Each year in Phuket, the festival takes place over 9 days. It celebrates the Chinese community’s belief that if they don’t eat any meat or various stimulants during the 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar that they will achieve long lasting physical and mental health.
The extreme celebrations are what make this festival world famous. It’s not clear where the exact origins of the festival came from, but one thought is that a nomadic Chinese opera group fell ill while performing on the island of Phuket.
During the 9 days I spent watching and documenting this festival unfold, I witnessed every sort of object being impaled through the cheeks of its participants.
Not only that but everyone seemed to act as if they were possessed.