Legend has it a 19 th century Chinese opera group fell sick when touring Phuket. The annual Vegetarian Festival in Phuket, where devotees follow a strict vegetarian diet to celebrate the 9 Emperor Gods, remains one of the most popular events in Thailand. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is all about firecrackers, extreme body piercing with sharp objects and blood. He is drenched in sweat. Firewalking, body piercing and other acts of self mortification undertaken by participants acting as mediums of the gods, have become more . . Phuket Vegetarian Festival Jorge Silva/Reuters A devotee of the Chinese Samkong shrine walks with knives and metal objects pierced through his cheeks during a procession in Phuket, October 16, 2015. . Attending the event, and then researching the Festival was a rewarding project, The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is worth attending, and will be held from October 20 -28th in 2017 - have fun. A vegetarian festival devotee is been carried to get medical attention Credit: Getty Images. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival this year is to be held on October 20-28, Gov Norraphat announced at a meeting of officials and Chinese shrine representatives at Phuket Provincial Hall on Tuesday . Religious devotees performed gruesome piercings with massive metal objects during Phuket's notorious Vegetarian Festival. For 9 days, participants must observe ritual cleansing activities, this includes no alcohol, dairy, meat or sex . Also known as the Nine Emperor Gods Festival or the Kin Jay Festival, the Phuket Vegetarian Festival is an annual event celebrated primarily by the Chinese community in Thailand and throughout Southeast Asia. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is a singular interpretation of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival celebrated by the Chinese diasporas throughout Southeast Asia. The festival's highlight, however, is the devotees' body-piercing parade. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is one of the most famous events in the country, especially because of its extreme celebrations and the ideas behind the festival itself. Day 3: Sapam Shrine and Birth and Death Gods. The festival is held all over Phuket, but mainly in the Old Town, during October. As part of the meditative process, the extreme body piercing involved in the festival is believed to remove evil spirits from the men's bodies. From body piercing to nail walking, to daring self-mortification undertaken by participants who act as mediums of the gods. The loud sounds of firecrackers can be heard across the island throughout the festival, especially during the processions where participants turn out on the warzone-like streets and pray for blessings to mah song, the spirit mediums . The thrones were littered with thousands of . Information and Advice for travellers visiting the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. Like it or hate it but you can certainly not remain indifferent to it. Devotee Chinese shrines self-mutalted with weapons and paraded their gruesome piercings to prove their . In what is describe as a "trance" men and women alike pierce their cheeks and other soft tissues with items such as knives, skewers and pins in hopes the . This 'Vegetarian' Festival In Thailand Involves People Piercing Their Mouths With Sharp Objects. As the gods started to leave the shrine, I ran up . The Vegetarian Festival is commemorated somewhat in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, as well as even Kuala Lumpur; nonetheless, Phuket- which has a Chinese populace of around 35%- is the area to see the entranced supporters puncture their bodies and perform feats of self mutilation. WARNING: This gallery contains images some viewers may find disturbing Phuket, a Thai . . Photo: Mladen Antonov / AFP. Firewalling, body piercing and other acts of self-mutilation undertaken by participants . The 2022 Phuket Vegetarian Festival (aka Nine Emperor Gods Festival) will take place from 25 September - 5 October 2022. Post Author: admin; Post published: November 27, 2019; . As the piercing continued and the men marched down the temple steps into the courtyard out front, they began to load the Ma Song onto the thrones to be carried and were lifted into the air and taken down the street. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is a colourful annual event held on the 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar, usually in September or October. The nine-day-long event saw followers self-mutilate with knives, skewers . . For most the festival is first of all a profoundly spiritual . Where to go - 2 Soi Ratchapruk, Samkong, Phuket, Thailand. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival . The Thailand Piercing Festical. Day 4: Sam Kong Shrine and Good Food! The festival has a big religious element to it. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2021 (Nine Emperor Gods Festival) is from October 5th to 14th and happens during the 9th lunar month. These include severe body mutilation acts - by way of . Fulbright scholar Andreas Schneider writes that the large Chinese immigrant community in Phuket . Jorge Silva/REUTERS. Fire-walking, body piercing and other acts of self . Phuket's Vegetarian Festival - starting at the end of this week - perhaps ranks among the strangest in the world. Also known as the Nine Emperor Gods Festival, the Phuket Vegetarian Festival is a wonderful mix of tradition and shock factor.The event celebrates the local Chinese community . . The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is not for the faint hearted! This process is further assisted by . There is a lot to this festival, it took me a few years to understand . The 2013 Phuket Vegetarian Festival began on Oct. 5 and wrapped up over the weekend with one final parade. Phuket hosts cheek-piercing vegetarian festival. PHUKET: The first street procession of this year's Phuket Vegetarian festival was held this morning (Oct 7) as devotees and Ma Song spirit mediums from the Naka Shrine in Wichit trvelled to Saphan H A Ma song rising in the back of a pickup at Saphan Hin this morning (Oct 7). And as you may have already inferred, Thailand's Veg-fest is not a meat-abhorring, food-loving, happy-go-lucky celebration. It's a commemoration that invites ancient Chinese spirts to come down from the heavens to witness almost 8 days of fire walking, noisy street processions, and an abundance . Participants in the festival perform acts of body piercing as a. The nine-day festival will feature many exciting events including vegetarian food fair with innumerable vegetarian food stalls. This Vegetarian Festival happens once a year, during the ninth lunar month, and is one of the most auspicious events on the Phuket island. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is a unique interpretation of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival celebrated by Chinese diaspora throughout Southeast Asia. More Strange & Bizarre face piercing from the Chinese Vegetarian Festival THE BEST MOST AMAZING & AWESOME EXOTIC TABOO PEOPLE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE! The Phuket Vegetarian (or Nine Emperor Gods) Festival is celebrated by the island's ethnic Thai-Chinese population, whose ancestors came to work in 19th-century Phuket's tin mines. . Phuket Vegetarian Festival is the most popular in town for a reason. Phuket Vegetarian Festival is the annual nine-day event, celebrated by the Chinese Hokkien descendants across the island for the purposes of physical well-being, spiritual cleansing, merit-making, conferring good luck in the future, and ensuring prosperity and long life. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival . processions in vehicles rather than on foot and no / minimal face piercing. During the annual Vegetarian Festival, people pierce their faces with sharp objects such as spikes, axes, knives and even chopsticks, as they walk through the streets of Phuket. Celebrated over 9 days in October, this Chinese festival dictates a strict vegetarian diet and period of abstinence whilst locals pray to the Nine Emperor Gods. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is not for the faint hearted! Day 5: The Tha Rua Shrine. and also about offering unnerving rituals that involve gory body piercing, and self-mutilating practices to express their obeisance . Phuket, Thailand - As burning incense fills the air, devotees in trances force skewers and swords through their cheeks in ritualistic acts underpinning southern Thailand's colourful -- and seemingly painful -- vegetarian festival. Timings- 10:30am to 8:30pm. Phuket Vegetarian Festival. During this festival, devotees of the Chinese culture gather in shrines all over Phuket island to perform religious rituals meant to purify the mind and body. A devotee of a Chinese shrine with skewers pierced through her cheeks takes part in a procession during the annual Vegetarian Festival in Phuket on October 3, 2019. Like it or hate it but you can certainly not remain indifferent to it. The origins of the Phuket vegetarian festival . In every procession, teams of men carry statues of the gods through the streets. A devotee of the Chinese Ban Tha Rue shrine with knives piercing his face takes part in a procession celebrating the annual Phuket Vegetarian Festival in Thailand, October 5 . Without a doubt the most popular festival in Phuket, the annual Phuket Vegetarian Festival is a colourful celebration that takes place during the 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar, generally in September or October. The people lining the streets are ready with firecrackers, the noise, the smoke, the Ma Song blessing the village, it's all designed to cleanse and bring good luck. A strict vegetarian diet, a street procession, striking visual of self-mutilation including body piercing and fire-walking, and religious rituals to purify body and mind; Phuket Vegetarian . Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2012 Celebration The main tradition of Phuket Vegetarian Festival is to eat anything but meat, seafood, fowls, or the other dishes made of animals. Held over nine days in October, the spectacular Taoist celebration centres around the Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat and stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain a healthy body and mind . Best Cuisines- Thai, Chinese, and Fusion. Each day of the Phuket Vegetarian Festival, processions start from one of the leading shrines around Phuket island. Picture: Lauren . Phuket's bloody 'vegetarian festival' Issued on: 26/10/2010 - 19:00 Modified: 01/11/2010 - 10:20 On the Thai island of Phuket, while tourists tan on beaches and get massaged, locals are busy walking on hot coals and piercing their cheeks with unlikely objects. Day 6: Multi-Shrine Processions and Fire Walking. Known locally as the 'Vegetarian Festival', it's a unique experience, with devotees in trances, sacred ritualistic acts, and religious passion. . The young man wears only shorts. You may have seen pics from spectacular and sometimes gut-wrenching feats of self-mutilation, but this is a personal choice of some only. Please Share,. When they arrived, the ma song, who had pierced his cheek with a . piercings, and of course, vegetarian food. Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2012 Celebration The main tradition of Phuket Vegetarian Festival is to eat anything but meat, seafood, fowls, or the other dishes made of animals. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is all about firecrackers, extreme body piercing with sharp objects and blood. Men and sometimes women puncture cheeks, tongues and other body parts with a bizarre collection of items . I have been sat on these images for a long time, not knowing what to do with them. The loud sounds of firecrackers can be heard across the island throughout the festival, especially during the processions where participants turn out on the warzone-like streets and pray for blessings to mah song, the spirit mediums . One of the key aspects of the festival involves what can only be described as extreme piercing. The peculiarity of this festival lies in its extreme celebrations that include body piercing, fire walking, climbing tall leaders of sharp blades, throwing firecrackers on the devotees etc. A vegetarian festival devotee allows the spirits of gods to possess his body at the Bang Neow shrine on September 29, 2014 in Phuket, Thailand. Running for nine days, the vegetarian festival in Phuket is considered by many to be the most extreme and bizarre of festivals in Thailand. The festival is famous for its 'extreme' celebrations. For me it is one of the most bizarre and enjoyable festivals in the world. Well, now that you know all about Phuket vegetarian festival, aka the Nine Emperor Gods festival in Phuket then perhaps you would like to plan your travel accordingly. Dressed in white, it is a time for the purification of both body and mind, and a time to display impressive feats to the Gods. It was the fourth day of The Vegetarian Festival in Phuket Town, Thailand - also known as the Thailand Piercing Festival. Thousands . One of the hallmarks of its Southern Thailand version is piercing practiced by the mediums who are believed to be possessed by spirits or minor deities therefore experience neither fear nor pain. abstaining from non-vegetarian foods like meat etc. Das Fest der neun Kaisergötter ( chinesisch 九皇爺誕 / 九皇爷诞, Pinyin Jiǔ huángyé dàn, Jyutping Gau2 wong4je4 daan3 - „Fest zum Geburt der neun Kaisergötter") ist ein Fest daoistischen Ursprungs, das von Auslandschinesen in Südostasien, insbesondere in Malaysia, Singapur und Thailand gefeiert . The Taoist "Nine Emperor Gods" event held on the holiday island of Phuket, began October 9 and coincides with . Festival-goers performed shocking acts of self-mutilation, piercing their faces with blades, guns and . Thailand's annual nine-day vegetarian festival kicked off on 8 October with devotees from Loem Hu Thai Su shrine, on the island of Phuket, showing off their eye-catching, some would say alarming . Drill's for cheek piercings - Ma Song in the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is a colorful annual event held on the 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar, usually in September or October. A devotee of Ban Tha Rua Chinese shrine, with a gun pierced through his cheek, takes a part in a procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival in Phuket October 19, 2012. Festival-goers performed shocking acts of self-mutilation, piercing their faces with blades, guns and . The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is a colourful event held from October 8 to 17, 2018, celebrating the Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind. The Vegetarian Festival in Phuket - Thailand helps prevent illness and death according to popular legend. . Prozessionszug, Phuket 2010. The Vegetarian Festival on the tourist island of Phuket in Southern Thailand is a truly bizarre occasion. The other tradition people do in this festival is quite extreme - piercing the face with dangerous items such as swords, spears, and some other heavy plus sharp arms . There are . The Vegetarian Festival, also known as the Nine-Emperor Gods Festival, is an extreme nine-day event takes place in Phuket, Thailand. piercing their tongues, cheeks, and other parts of the anatomy with . . Every October, the Thai Chinese people of Phuket, Thailand celebrate the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. One of the hallmarks of this Southern Thailand version is piercing practiced by mediums ( ma song ) who are believed to be possessed by spirits or minor deities and therefore experience . PHUKET: The first street procession of this year's Phuket Vegetarian Festival took place this morning (October 7th) as devotees and Ma Song spirit media traveled back to Saphan Hin from Naka Shrine in Wichit, riding on the backs of pickups and on the . PHUKET: An entranced Phuket Vegetarian Festival spirit medium, also known as a ma song, was rushed to hospital due to excessive blood loss today.. Kusoldharm Foundation rescue workers were called to Saphan Hin, the final destination of the first festival street procession (story here), to deliver first aid to the ailing ma song.. The dates change every year, as it's based on the Chinese lunar calendar. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is an annual event held on the 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar, usually in September or October. Phuket Vegetarian Festival Photos Posted on November 8, 2005 by Shannon Larratt IAM: arco had a chance to head up to Phuket Thailand last month for the vegetarian festival (which involves, among other things, devotees having extremely large temporary piercings done in their cheeks into which elements of their lives are inserted). This year's festival in honour of the 9 emperor gods ends today, here a pic from a few years ago. Spanning 10 days from October 5 to the 15, the festival is iconic for those who like exotic and very, very unique cultural events. REUTERS/Jorge Silva. PHUKET: The Phuket Governor has called for all people taking part in this year's Phuket Vegetarian Festival to refrain from throwing firecrackers and to even tone done the face piercings in order to . One of its main attractions is piercing practiced by mediums who are believed to be possessed by spirits of minor deities and therefore not to experience fear nor pain. 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