Thai Vegetarian Festival : WARNING - GRAPHIC

If you have never heard of the Vegetarian Festival in Thailand it would not surprise me. The name suggests that it is innocent enough but it involves a whole lot more than just eating veggies!

i warned you about the graphic nature

Although primarily celebrated by the Taoist communities who are primarily of Chinese descent, the actual holiday is called Nine Emperor Gods Festival. However, it is commonly referred to as the "Vegetarian Festival." This is primarily because for a certain amount of time, I believe 9 days - the believers can only consume vegetables. They are also meant to not drink or smoke in order to prepare them for the ceremonies that happen on the last day.

The devotees enter a trance-like state, where they are meant to be posessed by spirits and therefore feel no pain. They then perform all manor of bodily mutilations primarily piercing the cheeks and tongue with all types of items. It seems to be a competition of sorts as I have seen swords, wrenches, pool cues, and handguns through people's face.

The piercing is done without anesthetic and very few surgical precautions are taken and only gloves, an iodine substance called Betadine, and petroleum jelly is used during the process. It is also not performed by surgeons or even doctors unless one of these people happens to be a member of the temple.

They will then do a parade of sorts, stopping at households that are members of the faith to perform a ritual outside of their home that includes a couple of people dancing on top of fire-crackers and whipping themselves at the table the family kneels at. This is (from what I have been told) in order to bring good luck and to remove bad spirits from the household.

It may sound as though I am being insensitive to their beliefs but trust me, I am not. I simply do not know more about that this. I actually don't even go and see the rituals anymore because my dog loves firecrackers about as much as any other dog does.

Say what you will about religion but here is a really interesting piece of fact for you. Despite the fact that these (mostly men) put massive holes in their cheeks and tongues, there are extremely few instances of requiring medical attention, there is also a very low percentage of people that even experience permanent scarring. I know of few people that have performed relatively minor piercings and they have recovered with no sign of it having ever been there. So at least in some way, it is difficult to completely deny the power of spirituality.

The festival is dictated by a lunar cycle, so it is not on the same day every year. It always seems to sneak up on me because well, i don't follow a lunar calendar and mostly don't know what day it is on a regular calendar either. If you do happen to find yourself in Thailand during one of these things, and you have the stomach to see people intentionally cutting themselves, it is definitely an experience like no other.