DAY OUT
Something's stuck in your teeth
By Phoowadon Duangmee
DAILY XPRESS
Published on September 26, 2008
No toothpicks needed at Phuket's 10-day Vegetarian Festival starting on Sunday
Forget slow barefoot strolls on powdery sands and turn up for a fire-walk on glowing charcoal. Phuket, the country's best beach destination, is once again revealing its mystic side in celebrations for the 10-day-long Vegetarian Festival from this Sunday. Go now and make peace with the animals.
Visitors to the island should make a point of heading into town to see a very different side to the Pearl of the Andaman: a mix of vegetarian food, peaceful chants, ear-splitting firecrackers and mind-blowing processions.
The emperor gods of Taoism
The Vegetarian Festival is believed to have started in the town of Kathu more than 150 years ago by a visiting theatre troupe from China. Struck down by a mysterious illness, the entertainers erected Chinese temples to appease the nine emperor gods of Taoism and held a vegetarian festival to ward off bad luck. The unorthodox remedy worked and the annual vegetarian festival has been held ever since.
On the eve of the festival, a large pole is raised in each temple, and the nine emperor gods are invited to descend from the heavens and take part in the ceremonies. At midnight, nine lanterns are lit and hung on the poles and the festivities begin.
Food stalls fly yellow little flags to signify they serve only vegetarian food while devotees dress in white for the en
tire nine days to show they intend to remain pure. Abstention from sex and alcohol became a feature in later years.
Mediums and self-mutilation
While the tasty vegetarian food and gaily-decorated Chinese shrines make great side shows, most visitors focus on the maa song, or mediums of the gods.
The maa song manifest supernatural powers and perform acts of self-mutilation so they can absorb evil from other individuals and ensure good luck for the entire community.
Each dawn, scores of young men throng the inner sanctums of the temples, preparing themselves for the day's procession. Prostrated in front of shrines, they enter a trance state, begin speaking in tongues then don colourful aprons with Taoist symbols, looking on as doctors make cuts at both sides of their mouths.
Gory sights
What comes next is a gruesome sight - be warned!
Possessed by the spirits of the nine deities, men - and women too - pierce their tongues, cheeks and other parts of their anatomy with spears, daggers, sharpened branches and anything else that comes to hand. Apparently feeling no pain, these ascetic devotees then take to the streets in gory parades.
Source : www.dailyxpress.net
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