16 images Created 5 Jun 2015
Vegetarian festival
For nine days in the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar the Vegetarian Festival is celebrated in various parts of Asia. Dedicated to the Nine Emperor Gods, in Thailand is celebrated with some differences particular since 1825.
Hundreds of young people become mediums (Mah Song) of the spirits of the emperor gods, possessed by them, the mediums initiate a ritual that leads them to trance, and to attract good luck in their communities and ward off diseases, they carry a rigorous vegetarian diet and they practice sexual abstinence for weeks prior the festival.
Once in trance, they mutilate and pierce their body with objects that have an important meaning for them. In trance they walk for miles carrying the objects in their pierced bodies, in trance they walk on burning coal or climb stairs with knives instead of steps. Shamans are an important part of the ritual and they help the Mah Songs during the entire process. On the last day of the festival a cloud of gunpowder takes over the city, the Nine Emperor Gods must leave the bodies and the detonation of the firecrackers is part of the final ritual.
Hundreds of young people become mediums (Mah Song) of the spirits of the emperor gods, possessed by them, the mediums initiate a ritual that leads them to trance, and to attract good luck in their communities and ward off diseases, they carry a rigorous vegetarian diet and they practice sexual abstinence for weeks prior the festival.
Once in trance, they mutilate and pierce their body with objects that have an important meaning for them. In trance they walk for miles carrying the objects in their pierced bodies, in trance they walk on burning coal or climb stairs with knives instead of steps. Shamans are an important part of the ritual and they help the Mah Songs during the entire process. On the last day of the festival a cloud of gunpowder takes over the city, the Nine Emperor Gods must leave the bodies and the detonation of the firecrackers is part of the final ritual.
