Phuket’s Vegetarian Festival – A bizarre religious frenzy
Welcome to Phuket’s vegetarian festival, a colorful celebration in which the ‘closing ceremony’ feels more like the ‘front line’ of a war-zone or a zombie parade than a Chinese ancestry celebration. Apart from stomaching the various peculiar processions (which I will describe after I mention the food) it is enough to put you off your breakfast. The beautiful vegetarian food stalls that litter the street are a special delight for non-meat-eaters, who quite often find regular Thai markets ‘few and far between’ for options to eat. These stalls stay open from dawn until late and offer everything from Thai salads and curries to pad Thai and other dishes with a Phuket twist –especially their version of the humble fried potato, twirled on a stick and coated with tom yum flavour
What would any good vegetarian festival be without a bit of blood to witness, like watching a train crash in slow motion or an episode of a tacky American reality show, it’s hard not to watch the lengths multiple participants go to, to shift evil from individuals and bring good luck to the community. Like the human shish kabab, shiny and pointed objects thrust through their cheeks or the firewalking pit, it was the continuously slicing of the tongue with axes that made me wince as it reminded me of an episode where (I sliced my tongue by licking birthday cake off my first ever chef’s knife). It’s believed that the more pain they feel during this event, the more success they’ll enjoy in the coming year.
After suffering smoke inhalation and nearly losing my drone to fireworks, I managed to get some front-line footage to put together a teaser that epically sums up the chaotic front line of the spiritual cleansing that is the ‘Vegetarian festival’.