Self mutillation in Phuket

[Lusty]

In a magazine I was reading recently there was a spread about some religious festival where paticipants impale all manner of objects through their mouths,some slash their tongues with razorblades and the like.Do any of them bleed to death

There must be alot of male residents who are badly scard doing this year after year.Do any of them die?Has any one witnessed this?Whats it all about?

[Guest]

Thanks for the clarification and additional info.

[Guest]

This is the Vegetarian Festival in Phuket and it lasts for about a week in October. The guys who participate go through a spiritual cleansing process and then into some kind of self induced trance.

Do they bleed to death? The whole idea is that if they do it right they don't bleed at all! Not much scarring either. It's pretty amazing, but it's true.

I belive this is some kind of "rite of passage" thing for young guys to prove themselves, make a sacrafice, spiritual cleansing, etc. And it is a hell of a wild show. I have seen guys with the following items pierced clean through one of their cheeks: bicycle frame, chain saw, boom box (handle), barbed wire. That's all I can remember off hand.

The market in Phuket town becomes vegetarian gourmet central and every night crowds of Phuket residents show up to shoot off fireworks at the Chinese temples and eat all kinds of vegetarian dishes and cooked bean curd (?) that is prepared to look and taste like chicken, duck, beef, etc.

On the last night there is a procession from Phuket town to Nai Yang (?) beach, which is quite a distance, to shoot more fireworks and send a flaming boat out to sea, and a good time is had by all.

[Guest]

It's not a "rite of passage" for young guys, but an appeasement of Chinese gods, and yes, spiritual cleansing. It's a Chinese festival, and besides Phuket it is celebrated in Trang, and to some small extent, in Phang-Nga.

The best place to watch is in the morning (8 or 9 a.m.), when the participants sit outside a Chinese temple near Soi Pattana in Phuket Town and have all those objects stuck through their bodies. Then they take out processions around town, with lots of noisy fire-crackers thrown around them - earplugs aren't a bad idea. In the evenings, watch as the participants walk over a burning coal pit at Sanjao Bang Niew, a Chinese temple in Phuket Rd., Phuket Town. There are also some Chinese plays performed on a stage nearby.

This year's festival is from Oct.16 to 25.

[ October 14, 2001: Message edited by: Scum_Baggio ]