Phuket Vegetarian Festival
The annual Vegetarian Festival is on again; here a pic from a previous occasion in Phuket.
Every year in the 9th lunar month the descendants of Chinese immigrants throughout SE Asia celebrate the festival in honour of the 9 emperor gods. Participants purify body and mind through adherence to a specific diet and abstinence from impure or intoxicating acts and sex, as well as feats of endurance and suffering during a period of 1-2 weeks.
Gods and shrines are processed through town and purified in a hailstorm of firecrackers. Select few operate as mediums, called ม้าทรง (lit. 'horse officially enrolled for duty'), and use rituals, including self-mutilation to demonstrate their commitment and purify, and thus direct misfortune away from their community. At least for another year.
In this pic here one of the ม้าทรง is seated in front of a shrine, awaiting the start of the morning procession through Phuket old town,
© All rights reserved. Please do not use my images and text without prior written permission.
Phuket Vegetarian Festival
The annual Vegetarian Festival is on again; here a pic from a previous occasion in Phuket.
Every year in the 9th lunar month the descendants of Chinese immigrants throughout SE Asia celebrate the festival in honour of the 9 emperor gods. Participants purify body and mind through adherence to a specific diet and abstinence from impure or intoxicating acts and sex, as well as feats of endurance and suffering during a period of 1-2 weeks.
Gods and shrines are processed through town and purified in a hailstorm of firecrackers. Select few operate as mediums, called ม้าทรง (lit. 'horse officially enrolled for duty'), and use rituals, including self-mutilation to demonstrate their commitment and purify, and thus direct misfortune away from their community. At least for another year.
In this pic here one of the ม้าทรง is seated in front of a shrine, awaiting the start of the morning procession through Phuket old town,
© All rights reserved. Please do not use my images and text without prior written permission.