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The Power of The Phuket Spirits

The Phuket "Vegetarian Festival" is one of the great spectacles of Asia. It is comparable to the Filipino Easter Processions, the Brazilian Carnival and the Miracles of Lourdes. It is a spiritual and physical phenomenon, that is not well understood. It is very glamorous, very awe-striking and is bound to give the spectator a shudder or ten. Believe it or not - once you stand there, actually seeing, hearing and feeling the ongoing, your prejudices will melt away like ice-cream in the tropical sun.

Sensational, yet little known

Being a world-class event you would think the Phuket Vegetarian Festival would draw tens of thousands of tourists from all over the world. Not so. Not yet, anyway.

Contrary to the other events mentioned above, the Phuket Vegetarian Festival is not globally known. It is still pretty easy to witness the affairs first-hand, face to face with the participants. So far the festival is free of charges, taxes and money-making. So far everybody is welcome, there is room for everyone and all the miracles are for real - not mere folklore, staged for the tourists.

Beer sponsor for abstinent festival

Maybe all of this will change soon. Already a Japanese photo-company has become a "sponsor" and is "embellishing" the processions in Phuket town with hundreds of umbrellas and flags with their green and white logos. A Danish brewery is another recent sponsor. And it seems ironic, almost sarcastic to the Western eye, to see hundreds of festival participants - who have abstain from drinking alcohol - clad in angelic white robes, carrying the elephant logo.

The history of the PV Festival goes back to a theater-troupe from China, who toured the island about 170 years ago. Coincidentally, an epidemic (presumably malaria) broke out at the very same time. Many efforts were undertaken to contain the spread of the fatal disease. To no avail. The malady kept on raging.

In their distress, the members of the Chinese theater-troupe remembered their old religious crafts. But they had no priest to memorize and conduct the rituals. So they sent messengers back home to China to refresh the old spiritual arts.
Eventually these messengers returned to Phuket and enlightened with the knowledge of how to invoke the spirits, a ceremony began. Shortly after, the deadly disease lost its strangulating grip on the people of Phuket and disappeared.
Since then, an annual ceremony has been held by the Chinese population on Phuket. The event gained greater popularity each year. And now it is not a "Chinese thing" any more, although the Chinese community still is the prime motor of the festival.

Summoning the spirits

Prior to the 9 central days of the festival, there is a fasting period of several weeks. In that period the participants, the followers and devotees have to cleanse their mind and prepare for the strenuous obsessions by the Nine Emperor Gods.
They abstain from drinking alcohol, from smoking and from eating meat. They are not to tell lies and have to think benign thoughts. By the time of the festival, they are ready to become possessed.
In order to invoke the spirits and being able to perform the grueling tasks -all of which are laid out and described in the festival's program- the participants of the processions congregate at their respective temples at dawn. Noise, smell and sight all play vital parts at this stage.

Organized Chaos

The temple drums and bells are beaten and rung. The rooms of the temple and the temple-yard are heavy with smoke from fires and burning sandalwood. Hundreds of candles are lit on the alters and illuminate the many holy statues, depicting Chinese gods and emperors, Buddha, legendary animals and other mythological figures.

Men gather on one side of the alter, women on the other. The whole thing becomes organized chaos.
Presently, the Spirits announce their arrivals. Facial expressions change. Body movements become agitated. One after one the participants shift from being "ordinary people" to being mediators of the Nine Emperor Spirits. And one after one they walk, hop or run out into the yard, where a team of helpers are ready to pierce their face and body with the appointed tools.
And one by one they stand in line, enchanted, enlightened or in ecstasy. Full of spirit, bobbing up and down, uttering sounds, dripping with saliva, while waiting. Waiting for the rod, hook, chain or branch made of steel, plastic, glass or wood to penetrate their tender flesh.

No Pain

The piercing itself is being done with surgical precision. The helpers wear antiseptic gloves and clean the piercing tools with antiseptic cloths before inserting them - mostly through the cheeks.
It is a truly amazing sight to see -not one, but as many ten, twenty or sixty- people in the same place being pierced by gigantic objects. Without feeling pain, that is. Some of the inserted rods are ten ore more incredible meters long. Many have heavy objects attached to them. Some of them - like steely wire - bind three or four people together like beads on a string.
It takes two or three men to punch and steer the heavy metal through the face of its victims. And of course it takes at least one helper on each side of the person to be able to carry the load and walk in the processions.

Central events

The processions are the central events of the festival. But apart from the lengthy promenade with objects through the face, there are different "disciplines":

Fire-walking, knife-ladder climbing and others.

During the processions the ambiance of Phuket town changes from everyday life to religious frenzy. Yet a good many tourist, who stay on Phuket throughout the festival, never come to know about it. Maybe they just take home with them the impression, that people on Phuket seem to dress mainly in white!

Washed away

Missing the whole thing together is actually easy. This is due to the fact, that the processions start as early as 5 o'clock in the mornings and only in selected Chinese temples. After several hours of walking in the scorching sun, the processions and the crowds dissolve.

Few minutes later, the flower garlands, the remnants of firecrackers and even the blood from torn and cut up feet are being swept and washed away.
Also, the bulk of the tourists stays in Patong, Kata and Karon, out of the "Spirit Territory". 
By the way: Should you by any chance arrive on Phuket shortly after the festival, you will see people everywhere with small wounds or marks on their cheeks. It is naturally to wonder, why hundreds of people on a little island wear the same stigmata. Now you know!