The Vegetarian Festival of Phuket, Thailand, is not necessarily what you think: there is much more than tofu and vegetable dishes... These are the strange and bloody piercings that make this festival so famous!
Sensitive souls are requested to repel path . The most striking element of this nine-day Taoist celebration on the island of Phuket Little to do with vegetarian food... In the sacred rituals, the faithful called "Mah Song" enter into a transe are piercing the cheeks with all kinds of objects like daggers and long swords of a meter through a bicycle or pistols! Then they dance and walk in the street while petards explode around them, the latter being used to push back evil spirits.
This annual festival in Phuket has become a tourist attraction, the Tourist Authority of Thailand considering that the festival attracts some 300,000 visitors. This ritual, which has taken place for nearly 200 years, is essential for the important Chinese-born Taoist minority living on the island south of Thailand.
The Vegetarian Festival begins on the eve of the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar (usually beginning or mid-October) and takes place mainly in the countries of South East Asia, including Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Burma. He was born in the early 1800s, when a Chinese opera troupe on tour in Phuket fell ill. It was agreed that they should refrain from eating meat and soon all were healed.
Photo credit: Wikimedia – Joseph Ferris III
The festival and its sacred rituals are supposed to bring happiness. The enthusiasts comply with a strict vegetarian or vegan regime that is supposed to purify the body and grant merit. It is said that those who practice extreme piercings do not endure any pain because they are in trance. The piercings are practiced by volunteers of the temple, who pierce the cheeks of the devastated by thick metallic objects. Sometimes you wonder how the object can pass through their cheeks.
Some photos published by AFP are hard to look at .
Photo credit: Flickr – [email protected]
At night, the festival-goers continue to show their fervour by crossing bare feet of burning coals. The majority of participants are represented by men, who must refrain from drinking alcohol and any sexual relationship during the nine days of the festival.
Main photo credit: Flickr – Joseph Ferris III
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