Phuket vegetarian festival reaches final day with parades and ceremony
The Tourism Authority of Thailand expects about 140,000 tourists and more than ฿1.3 billion in local spending from the nine-day event.
Phuket’s nine-day vegetarian festival is drawing to a close, with street processions preceding a night-time ceremony to send the Nine Emperor Gods back to heaven.
Images representing the deities were carried through the streets during the morning as spectators gathered for blessings. Residents prepared worship altars, while devotees taking part as spirit mediums demonstrated their faith. The closing procession’s route includes Phunphon, Rasada, Phuket, Montri and Kra roads, ending near Saphan Hin Public Park.
Chinese shrines organise the festival’s processions, which involve hundreds of devotees and thousands of followers. Participants known as ma song perform rituals that include body piercing. Devotees believe their sacrifices drive away evil spirits and bring the community good fortune.
The tradition is believed to date to 1825, when members of a visiting Chinese opera troupe became ill in Phuket. Other troupe members followed a strict vegetarian diet to honour the Nine Emperor Gods. After the performers recovered, the practice became an annual observance and spread among Chinese descendants elsewhere in Thailand.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand forecasts about 140,000 tourists for the festival, with local spending expected to exceed ฿1.3 billion.
