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Taking place 2-11 October 2005 around Phuket’s Chinese shrines locals of Chinese extraction eat only a vegetarian or vegan diet to cleanse their spirits and to make merit. However, this festival is far from being what you might expect of a vegetarian festival in the west. It is famed for its rituals which include people going into trances, walking on hot coals, having their body pierced in every possible way (the man in the picture above has parts of a bicycle stuck through his cheeks), and being impaled and hung from hooks stuck into their bodies - all this amidst a constant cacophony of drumbeats and fireworks exploding. All in all, very much NOT the humus and nut cutlet party you might have at home! |
