8 October 2008 Phuket Vegetarian Festival - Day 1

Phuket Vegetarian Festival - Background and Day 1

We arrived home last night (Tuesday 7 October in Thailand) after a 12 hour journey back from Phuket - a combination of taxi, plane and bus.

We had spent 7 days in Phuket to observe, participate and photograph the Phuket Vegetarian Festival.

The festival is Phuket's biggest celebration and is a grand event for Phuket's Chinese community. A large proportion of Phuket's population is Chinese. Phuket was once a large tin mining as well as trading center. The Chinese immigrated to trade and to work the mines.

In 1825, a visiting Chinese opera company caught malaria while performing in Kathu. In those days, malaria was often fatal. The opera company decided to adhere to a strict vegetarian diet as an offering to the Nine Emperor Gods. The opera company recovered from their illness. The people of Kathu celebrated by holding a vegetarian festival each year to thank the gods and celebrate the opera group's recovery.

The festival is held over nine days during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calender which is usually late September or early October. This year it was held from 28 September to 7 October.

The central belief of the festival is that by eating vegetarian food and observing 10 rules, believers purify their body as well as their soul and will bring good luck to themselves and their community.

The 10 rules that are supposed to be followed by the believers are:

Maintain body cleanliness

Use only clean kitchenware that has not been used by people who are not participating in the festival

Dress in white

Be moral in thoughts and actions

Do not eat meat

Do not have sex

Do not drink alcohol

Avoid foods with strong flavor such as garlic and onion

People in mourning should not participate in the festival

Pregnant or menstruating women should not attend the ceremonies

During the festival, many ceremonies are conducted to call upon the gods. These ceremonies include body piercing, fire walking, and climbing ladders made with sword rungs. The ceremonies are held at each of the six Chinese shrines in Phuket Town.

Mediums, called mar song, become possessed by the Nine Emperor Gods. The mar song are dressed in clothes befitting the god that has possessed them. People believe that the god will protect the mediums from harm while they perform the various rituals and act of self mutilation.

Each of the main Chinese shrines parades through Phuket Town on their appointed day during the festival. During the parade the mar song demonstrate the power of their respective god by withstanding the pain of their ordeal. Along the parade route many people and businesses set up tables of offerings to receive blessings from the passing mar song.

We arrived in Bangkok at 06:05 AM on Tuesday 1 October after an overnight bus trip from Udonthani which had started at 10:30 PM. From the Monchit bus station we took a taxi to the old Bangkok airport.

After a three hour wait for our flight, we had a pleasant 65 minute flight to Phuket leaving the rain behind in Bangkok. As we descended on our approach to Phuket International Airport, I was surprised to see how much the area reminded me of Halong, Vietnam. Many limestone karsts protruded through the emerald green sea.

After showering and resting we set out for the Kathu shrine to watch the evening's rituals. We hired a tuk-tuk and headed out. We had about a 20 km (12 mile) drive to the shrine. Traffic was stopped by roadblocks so we walked a little ways to the shrine. All along the road in the vicinity of the shrine, people had set up tables and were selling drinks as well as non-alcohol drinks. Everyone was dressed in white.

The shrine was crowded with people of all ages. There were booths selling food such as sweets and corn on the cob. Groups of young boys were occupied lighting and throwing firecrackers.

At the right side of the shrine complex was a large pavilion. The pavilion was permanent structure with huge cooking facilities inside. People were lining up at the pavilion's window counters to receive free vegetarian food.

Inside the pavilion workers were cooking rice. There were huge burners embedded in the floor where several metal trays were stacked up. A large metal bell was lowered over the stack of trays. When the rice was finished cooking, the trays were dumped on a long metal table and the rice was then scooped into large wheeled bamboo tubs. The bamboo containers were then covered with a moist white towel.

The workers noticed me photographing the proceedings and motioned me to enter for a closer look. The people were very friendly and obviously proud of their labor.

As I left the cooking pavilion, I was approached by a Quasimodo type figure. For some reason he took a liking to me. He could not speak but it did not matter to me because even if he could - I do not understand Thai. Through his grunts, facial expressions, and hand gestures, he communicated very well with me. I used facial expressions and hand gestures to communicate with him. He led me around the shrine complex pointing out things to photograph. He had a very good photography sense. When an area got congested with people, he cleared them out of the way. It was apparent that he was well known within the community and people respected his wishes.

He brought me into the shrine to photograph specific statues. He then became very adamant that I go out on the shrine balcony. There was a crescendo of drums and gongs from the street leading into the shrine complex. A parade was entering the shrine. Children were marching into the shrine complex carrying colorful banners strung from long pieces of bamboo. Older men were carrying statues that were placed in wooden chairs suspended from long poles carried on the shoulders of 12 men.

As the parade arrived, huge amounts of firecrackers were set off. The air was filled with sharp staccato of bursting firecrackers, flashes of light, flying shards of bright red firecracker paper wrapping, and huge clouds of sulphurous smoke.

The center of the parade was a small group of young men. These young men were escorted by many older men. The young men were warriors (mar song). Their bodies were heavily tattooed - oriental designs. These tattoos were much more elaborate and prevalent than the religious ornamentation that I have seen in Isaan. The mar song were in a trance like state - they appeared to be talking or chanting to themselves with their heads trembling from side to side almost as if they had Parkinson's disease. The spiritual mediums were hustled up into the shrine. Once inside the shrine, the mar song paid their respects to the various statues eventually waiting together in front of a large altar at the left side of the main shrine. One by one the warriors approached the altar. As they approached the altar, they were escorted by several young men. At the altar there was an older spiritual medium who was obviously some kind of leader or head man. In his left hand was a fairly large black cloth and some kind of sword or rod wrapped in a cloth. The young warrior, in his trance, would approach the head man and altar by himself. The mar song would suddenly become extremely animated and pound the altar sometimes jumping up and down. He would also yell sometimes extremely loud. After three great slaps or lunges at the altar, the young warrior was repelled violently backwards into the arms of his escorts. They prevented him from falling on his back in his catatonic state. The head man approached the young warrior and covered his face with the large black cloth suspended by the covered sword. After awhile, in response to the head man's incantations, the warrior recovered from his catatonic state and was helped to leave the shrine by his escorts.

It was very impressive and moving.

When it was time to return to town for a well needed sleep, we said good bye to my new friend. We headed out fully confident that we would be able to catch a ride on a passing Tuk-Tuk. As we continued walking, we realized that we were not on a main road and therefore not seeing any Tuk Tuk. After walking another 15 minutes, a car stopped and offered us a ride.

The driver was a gypsy cab driver - unlicensed. He wanted less money to get us back to town than we had paid to get there so we accepted. It turned out that Khun Lak was a nice man and offered to be our chauffer the next day. The price was right - $38 for 8 hours.

The day ended on a high note - the issue of guide and transportation resolved. We went to sleep with high anticipation for the next day.