The annual Vegetarian Festival is on again; here an image from a previous occasion in Phuket on one of the daily street processions.
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. Over a period of 10-20 days the participants purify body and mind through a strict diet and abstinence from impure or intoxicating acts and sex, as well as feats of endurance and suffering.
The gods and shrines from all the Chineses temples are processed through town and purified in a hailstorm of firecrackers. Select few operate as mediums for the gods, 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.
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Posted by flovision.net on 2022-09-29 11:04:49
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