The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is one of the most dynamic annual celebrations in southern Thailand. The celebration lasts for nine full days during the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, which usually falls in October.
The Phuket Festival is also known as the Jia Chai Festival or the Nine Emperor Gods Festival among local people. Every corner of Phuket changes its look entirely into yellow and white during the event.
The modern festival's festivities actually hold a dark tale from the past. Descendants of Chinese Hokkien immigrants in Phuket are bound by a major historical event that later gave birth to this mass purification tradition.
Behind the Phuket Vegetarian Festival
The Kathu District in Phuket became a silent witness to the birth of the tradition in 1825. At that time, the fertile area was filled with Chinese immigrant tin miners who settled there.
A Chinese opera troupe then arrived to entertain the miners on the island. A deadly disease similar to malaria suddenly attacked all troupe members along with most of the city residents mysteriously.
The opera troupe members eventually realized that they had neglected to honor the Nine Emperor Gods during their time abroad. They decided to perform a ritual of repentance by following a strict diet without consuming any meat.
Special prayers were offered continuously to the ancestral gods during that self-quarantine period. Miraculously, all patients recovered completely from the deadly disease that had crippled the city.
To commemorate the story, The people of Phuket then routinely held the purification ritual every year. The term vegetarian festival stuck because the obligation to abstain from meat became the main condition for their recovery.
Extreme Spiritual and Physical Sacrifices
Phuket residents preserve this history of miraculous healing through extreme physical rituals. They channel this gratitude through spiritual mediums known as the Ma Song.
Ma Song literally translates to "horses of the gods." Locals believe these chosen individuals have pure souls, allowing gods to temporarily possess their bodies to absorb the community’s bad luck.
The body piercing process is performed using various sharp objects inside the main temple. Traditional weapons like steel spears to modern objects like long sword blades are intentionally pierced through their cheeks.
Thick incense smoke around the temple helps create an altered state of consciousness for the participants. Rhythmic drum beats throughout the parade also help bring the Ma Song into a trance state.
The psychological condition acts as a natural anesthetic that biologically blocks the pain when their skin is torn.
General Rules of Sacred Rites
The festival opens with the raising of the Go Teng lantern pole at each main temple. The tall pole serves as a symbol to invite the Nine Emperor Gods down to earth.
Local residents participating as general devotees must wear all-white clothing. They also have to obey basic rules such as abstaining from alcohol, refraining from sexual relations, and being forbidden to visit the temple if they are grieving.
The peak of the celebration occurs on the night of the ninth day through the sending-off ritual of Kew Ong Tai Tay. Thousands of people march to escort the sacred symbols of the gods to the beach amidst the roar of firecrackers.
The process of sending the gods back into the sea marks the official end of the festival. The Go Teng lantern pole is then lowered, and the city of Phuket returns to its normal routine.
Apart from the local residents participating in the rituals, food vendors in Phuket also do not sell any meat-based dishes to respect the entire series of events during the festival.
