VEGETARIAN FESTIVAL: PHUKET (2020) THAILAND

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Vlog: Kumar Ellawala
Videography & Editing: Kumar Ellawala
Camera: DJI OSMO POCKETS
Audio Track: from SHUTTERSTOCK
Video Editor: CyberLink PowerDirector 365

The Phuket Vegetarian Festival (or Nine Emperor Gods Festival) happens once a year, during the ninth lunar month, and is one of the most auspicious events on the island. For this unique occasion, a crowd of devotees assemble in every Chinese shrine around the island, followed by an even bigger horde of photographers avid to get the shot of their life. The Vegetarian Festival is an internationally known event, and while it also happens modestly in Bangkok around the same dates, it is mostly a Phuket event.

For several days, on both sides of Phuket Town streets leading to shrines, food stands display tons of vegetarian dishes in all imaginable shapes and sizes (but surprisingly having a very similar taste).

The festival main event then starts and a multitude of worshipers, all dressed in white or yellow, gather in every shrine for the first event marking the opening of the ceremony: the giant bamboo pole rising, meant to invite divinities to come down to earth. The devotees wear bright and very ornamented outfits, and then you are set for a full week of firecrackers, parades, piercings, and of course, vegetarian food.

Each day of the Phuket Vegetarian Festival, processions start from one of the leading shrines around Phuket island. Thousands of people will pay respect to ancestors.

During this entire week everyone follows ten principles: mostly wear white, do not eat meat, do not drink alcohol, do not have sexual activities, etc… two of them specify that women having periods should not attend nor even watch the festival.