Phuket Vegetarian Festival

The spectacle of knife wielding vegetarians and bleeding Buddhists walking through fire would be enough to put most people off their salad diets and run screaming from thoughts of becoming full-time herbivores. But don't be mistaken, the vegetarian festival down in Phuket has little to do with being a vegetarian and more to do with enjoying the sights and sounds of a sometimes gruesome, sometimes horrific, often sickening, and always incredible, physical conundrum.

This year the festival falls from September 7 to October 6 and is marked by Thailand's large Chinese community. During these 10 days, during the 9th month of the lunar calendar, the custom is to stop eating meat of any kind, that includes seafood, chicken, eggs and indeed anything considered 'hot' food such as garlic and certain spices. The origin of the vegetarian festival stems from Chinese Buddhist beliefs and has much in common with the Christian Lentan period which is similar in ideology: that for this period one should abide by a strict dietary code which is representative of a physical and spiritual repentance. Thai Buddhists likewise mark the days of Buddhist lent in July. In Bangkok the city is strewn with food stalls draped in yellow flags representing the "Jae" or vegetarian character in Chinese. Down in Phuket the event has become far more flamboyant and has now reached far beyond the original intent to embrace a new concept - the vegetarian festival as tourist attraction - for in fact the demonstrations on hand during the period would highlight any visitors album.

From the mystic who trances himself into such a state that a butchers knife slicing through his arm cannot be felt, to the almost catatonic performer who walks on bleeding feet across carpets of glass shards. From the young man whose cheeks are poked through with sharpened skewers to the ascetic devotee who can no longer feel the hundreds of pins lodged in his back and neck.

These are but few of the myriad rituals on display here in Phuket during the Vegetarian Festival where the grotesquerie can only be groaned at, but we cannot help but look in awe at the sheer affrontery of a human who could do such a thing and yet feel no pain. It is the ultimate test of man's psychological power - mind over matter. And for those who would rather avoid the scene - well there's always the beach....