8 October 2008 - Phuket Vegetarian Festival Day 2

Phuket Vegetarian Festival - Day 2 Tuesday 02 October

We got up at 0600 to a beautiful blue sky and brilliant sun. Phuket is cooler than Udonthani and it was a welcomed relief.

By the time we had finished showering, dressing, and gathering up our gear for the day it was 06:50. We went downstairs in hopes of grabbing breakfast. As we stepped into the lobby, Khun Lak, our driver from last night, pulled up for his 0700 appointment with us. Food would have to wait - we had pictures and an adventure awaiting us! We went to the Sankong Shrine. They were scheduled to parade through town today. The mar song or warriors had already been pierced by the time that we arrived. They were being attended by latex gloved people with what appeared to be bottles of disinfectant and Kleenex tissues. There was not a great deal of blood but the handlers swabbed up any drool and blood that emanated from the piercings.

There was a mar song with two shovels piercing his cheeks. Another spiritual medium had 10 needles piercing his cheeks. One warrior had a glass vase through his face. Some mar song had metal rods piercing their cheeks. Others had palm branches through their cheeks. Little did Duang and I imagine some of the other objects that we would see piercing the faces of the warriors during the upcoming days in Phuket.

The parade was comprised of many white clothed believers, mar song, mar song attendants, men carrying religious statues, children carrying pennants suspended from long bamboo poles, ambulances, trucks carrying people playing drums and cymbals, and sound trucks - a very impressive sight. The sound trucks are modified pickup trucks. They are analogous to the low rider vehicles in Los Angeles. Young Thai men will buy a small pickup truck and extensively customize it become a moving sound machine. The paint is bright and detailed. Extensive chrome is added to the truck body. The real expense is in the sound system. The entire pickup bed is converted into speakers with amplifiers and sometimes generators hidden underneath the speaker assemblies. It is mind boggling as well as mind shattering the amount of sound from and expense paid for these machines. Perhaps their owners were making up for all the times that they annoy people by using their machines to play religious chanting for the parade.

With a huge choking outburst of exploding firecrackers the parade commenced. Duang and I ended up walking the entire length - 2 hours of the parade with the adherents. It was an extraordinary expierence. I estimated that there were 20 to 30 warriors in their trances walking barefoot. Some other mar song including women were not pierced but walked the route barefoot in their possessed state of mind. The pierced mar song had several people handling them. All along the route, residents and businessmen had set up small tables or pineapples, apples, fruit, food, lit candles, burning incense, and several small goblets of liquid that I assumed to be alcohol. Offerings of alcohol are common in Buddhist rituals.

As the parade moved along there was a high level of energy, devotion, and spiritualism. People along the parade route were dressed completely in white. This morning without any prompting from me, Duang had laid out white or near white clothing for us to wear. We blended somewhat in with the other people.

Although the believers are Buddhists, their religion is very different from the Buddhism practiced by the Thai people in Isaan. Duang was unable to explain much of what was happening. In regards to the body mutilation and flowing of blood, she was aghast. I have seen the great differences between Chinese shrines and Thai Wats. Chinese Buddhist shrines are extremely ornate whereas Thai Wats are fancy but nowhere near bordering on ornate in my opinion.

The parade ended up after two hours at the harbor area. Since we had not eaten any breakfast we ended up going to a seafood restaurant on the bay. The restaurant was a series of open air pavilions amongst lush vegetation on the water's edge. There were also several tables set up on a platform over the water. Two pavilions contained basins with live seafood with some aquariums of lobsters and prawns. Another structure at the complex was a combination kitchen, storehouse, and living quarters.

The place was very peaceful and beautiful. I made a mistake and did not inquire about the size of the portions. We ordered prawns, squid, greens, and seafood spring rolls. We were shocked at how much food there was when it was brought to the table. The portions are for two people and not for a single person as I had assumed. Luckily we were very hungry and managed to not waste too much food.

There were two other surprises associated with our meal besides the size of the food portions. Our waitress de-shelled the prawns for us at the table. When we finished our meal, she brought a large bowl of water and some lemon wedges. The surprise was that she washed and dried our hands.

After our wonderful feast we went to another shrine - "Jui Tui" the largest in Phuket. We spent some time there observing the afternoon events. As you entered the shrine's courtyard there was a large canopy in the cnter of a roped off area. Underneath the canopy two large cauldrons of some type of bubbling viscous liquid were being stirred and attended by a succession of men. In the corners of the roped off area were small tables set up as altars. The tables had statues, burning candles, buring incense, and a brass goblet of smoldering wood. We ended up off to the side where a woman and her young daughter were busy cleaning off the spent wax from the brass candle holders. I wandered about and Duang kept in conversation with the woman. Duang eventually ended up helping to remove the wax while the little girl took a break.

Suddenly there was a flurry of fire crackers exploding. This appears to be the sign that something interesting is about to happen during the Festival. Sure enough, some mar song and their attendants entered into the courtyard. They went to the cauldrons and dipped the handles of their whips into the bubbling liquid. There were also several dignitaries both male and female around the cauldrons. The mar song also tasted what was boiling in the kettles. This is one of their rituals that goes along with body mutilation, fire walking, and climbing up ladders bare foot on rungs made of swords.

The warriors in their trance like state then started walking around the rope perimeter. They stopped at the tables and started giving out orders in their shrill voices somewhat in pitch as Sarah Palin. The attendants quickly stripped the tables and the warriors retreated to another building.

We finished our day by visiting a Wat that had one Buddha's teeth on display and lastly to a mountain top where a statue of Buddha is being constructed out of concrete covered with marble tiles. The statue is called "The Great Buddha of Phuket". It was very interest to see and watch how it is being constructed.

We returned to our hotel thoroughly exhausted.

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.