Some 40 Chinese shrines across Phuket are taking part in the festival this year, but all eyes will be on the Kathu Shrine, the spiritual home of the festival where the purification rituals were first observed 198 years ago.
As is tradition, the festival is held on the first through to the ninth day of the ninth lunar month according to the Chinese calendar.
In the weeks leading up to the festival, devotees and volunteers attended to the shrines, preparing for the thousands of people to arrive to take part in the festivities. Open areas were thoroughly cleaned, as were benches, tables, altars, shrines and images of important gods for the festival, including ‘Po Sheng Tai Te’, or ‘Hong Jin Yin’.
In preparation for the large volume of vegetarian dishes to be cooked at the shrine during the nine-day festival, efforts also focussed on cleaning cooking appliances and kitchenware such as pots and pans, as well as plates, knives, forks and spoons. Also cleaned were items and relics used to perform rituals and ceremonies throughout the festival.
Saffron flags have also been posted at all the participating shrines and along the streets throughout Phuket Town and other areas on the island where festivities will be observed.
Throughout the festival, Mah Song spirit mediums will perform ablutions with bladed weapons while devotees and participants will be invited to take part in a variety of self-purification rituals, including hot oil bathing, fire-walking and bladed-ladder climbing, and the less demanding ‘bridge crossing’ ceremony.
The shrine administrators have long asked all people taking part in the festival to observe 10 simple rules:
- Maintain personal hygiene and cleanliness
- Clean, use kitchen utensils separately from others not participating
- Wear white to identify yourself as observing the tradition
- Be polite (this rule should be followed year round by everyone, anyway)
- Abstain from eating meat or other animal-based products, including eggs, milk, yoghurt and dairy products in general
- Abstain from sexual activities
- Abstain from consuming alcohol and all other fermented foods and substances
- People in mourning should not take part
- Pregnant women must refrain from watching the rituals
- Women undergoing menstruation should not attend festival rituals
Although the COVID-19 restrictions were finally eased for the festival last year, organisers of the festival are still asking people to observe personal hygiene behaviours to help prevent the spread of any disease, namely through coughing or other contagious practices, such as touching with unclean hands any objects to be reused by masses of other people.
Likewise, all shrines have been asked to observe disease prevention and cleanliness measures in line with public health guidelines, and that all mass congregations must strictly follow the measures as before. “Miraculous performances can still be performed normally but within a range that is not very dangerous,” one official advisory said.
The official nine days of the festival will draw to a close on Oct 23 with processions from all participating shrines arriving at Saphan Hin after making their way through Phuket Town for a final bonfire during which thousands of prayers for ancestors and the Gods are burnt as offerings for the Gods.
The final night of the festival has long been renowned as spectacular, and noisy, with thousands of people lining the streets of Phuket Town to watch as each major shrine taking part in the festival has devotees carrying an image of their key god to be honoured at the ‘mass farewell ritual’ at Saphan Hin.
The mass rituals call the Jade Emperor and the Nine Emperor Gods to return to the heavens with bonfires of notes of prayers and blessings. The rituals conclude at midnight with a blaze of fireworks.
On Oct 24 the final ceremonies are held with the lowering of the Go Teng poles, formally bringing the festival to an end.
ON THE STREET
Phuket officials have advised motorists to be ready for the street processions to be held as part of this year’s Vegetarian Festival, with the first of the street processions taking place on Monday (Oct 16).
The affected streets will be partially or entirely closed to traffic while the street processions pass by. The processions will affect people living in nearly all parts of the island, and will continue through to Oct 23.
While most of the processions take place in the early morning, some local shrines will be holding their street processions in the afternoon.
The official programme of events published by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) gives route maps for only four of the main processions, all to be held in the heart of Phuket Town on Oct 20-23.
The full list of street processions to be held, according to the official schedule of events, is as follows:
MONDAY, OCT 16
7:30am Jchoor Su Gong Naka Shrine (better known as the Naka Shrine, Wichit)
TUESDAY, OCT 17
5:45am - Sapam Shrine
6:30am - Bang Koo Shrine (Koh Kaew)
7:00am - Hai Yian Geng Shrine (Baan Mai Khao)
7:30am - Seng Leng Tong Shrine (Muang Mai)
WEDNESDAY, OCT 18
6:45am - Lim Hu Tai Su Shrine (Samkong)
7:00am - Thee Gong Tua Shrine (Phuket Town)
7:00am - Sam Sian Tong Shrine (Chalong)
7:00am - Guan Yu Shrine (Ban Nabon)
7:00am - Ngore Choon Gend Baanya Shrine (Baan Ya)
8:15am - Tai Houd Tong Shrine (Surin Beach)
8:30am - Bu Seng Tong Shrine (Baan Kian)
THURSDAY, OCT 19
6:09am - Bangjo Shrine (Srisoonthorn)
6:09am - Ban Tha Rue Shrine (south of Heroines Monument)
6:30am - Jeng Ong Shrine (near Vachira Phuket Hospital in Phuket Town)
7:00am - Tai Seng Oud Jor (Chalong)
7:15am - Tae Gun Tai Tae Shrine (Baan Pasak)
7:30am - Hok Ong Tong Shrine (Chalong)
3:00pm - Seng Leng Tong Shrine (Muang Mai)
6:45pm - Sapam Shrine
FRIDAY, OCT 20
6:30am - Gim Su Ong Shrine (Baan Don)
7:00am - Cherng Talay Shrine
7:00am - Bang Liao Shrine (Bang Neow, Phuket Town)
5:15pm - Tai Houd Tong Shrine (Surin Beach)
SATURDAY, OCT 21
6:00pm - Lee Sian Tong Shrine (Srisoonthorn)
6:30am - Gim Su Ong Shrine (Baan Don)
8:00am - Guan Tae Gun (Baan Pon)
8:00am - Jui Tui Shrine (Phuket Town)
SUNDAY, OCT 22
6:00am - Yok Kae Geng Shrine (Soi Paniang - Samkong/Ratsada)
6:45am - Kathu Shrine
7:00am - Hai Yian Geng Shrine (Mai Khao)
7:00am - Guan Yu Shrine (Ban Nabon)
7:45am - Baan Kian Shrine (Thepkrasattri)
8:00am - Jong Nghi Tong Shrine (near Tonsai Waterfall, Pa Khlok)
3:09pm - Lee Ong Tong (Tha Chatchai)
MONDAY, OCT 23
8:00am - Bang Koo Shrine (Koh Kaew)
8:00am - Sui Boon Tong Shrine (Lorong shrine, Phuket Town)