Experience Phuket’s vegetarian festival

Posted by Andaman Sam on June 17th, 2010 filed in Activities, Festivals, Partying

Welcome to the Vegetarian Festival, an extremely vibrant celebration that lasts for nine days in late September and early October. The festival is celebrated throughout Thailand but is perhaps at its liveliest in the southern province of Phuket, where it was first introduced.

This is the time of year when Thai and Chinese people adopt a vegetarian diet, perform good deeds and abstain from other vices in order to obtain good health and peace of mind.

The first Vegetarian Festival was celebrated around 150 years ago in the Kathu district of Phuket. There was a large Chinese community of tin miners living in this area, as well as a group of Chinese operatic performers.

A fatal disease swept through Phuket during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar claiming many lives, including those of some of the Chinese performers.

The devout Chinese performers realised that they had forgotten to pay homage to the Nine Emperor Gods (Kiu Ong Iah), a practice they always followed in the ninth lunar month. The community’s illness was attributed to this and one of the performers was sent to china to invite the Kiu Ong Iah to Phuket.

The gods were worshipped the following year and the Chinese followed the tradition of abstaining from eating meat, drinking alcohol, fighting and telling lies. The disease epidemic ceased and the festival has been celebrated every year since in Phuket and around Thailand to ensure that it never returns.

Thailand is well known for its abundance of good food, which can be found fresh and hot at markets, restaurants or street stalls at almost any time of the day or night. During the Vegetarian Festival most food vendors substitute meat dishes for soya and tofu, and there are a whole range of new dishes to try, from noodles with braised tofu to rice with small pieces of spicy tofu coated with sesame seeds. Stalls selling vegetarian food can be easily recognised as they are adorned with yellow flags bearing Chinese or Thai characters.

Many different ceremonies and practices are followed during the nine day festival. Ceremonies take place at the six Chinese temples around Phuket Province, the main one being the Jui Tui Shrine in the heart of Phuket Town. The festival is announced to the gods with the raising of the sacred Lantern Pole.

Throughout the festival worshippers revitalise their household gods at the temple as well as bringing along offerings of food and drink.

Another prominent feature is the devotees who attain a trancelike state and parade through the town. Known as “Ma Song” or ‘entranced horses”, these are holy men who the gods enter during the festival. The Ma Song are bestowed with supernatural powers and perform self-mortification rituals to bring good luck to the community.

For those wishing to cleanse their body and soul during the Vegetarian Festival, there are 10 strict rules that must be followed throughout the festival:

1. Cleanliness of the body
2. Use separate, clean utensils to non-worshippers
3. Wear white clothing
4. Behave piously both physically and mentally
5. Do not eat meat
6. Avoid sexual behaviour
7. No alcohol
8. People in mourning should not participate
9. Pregnant women should not participate
10. Menstruating women should not participate