The Phuket Vegetarian Festival

Overview & Quick Tips

Grotesquely shocking—that’s the only way to describe this nine day festival held around October each year in Phuket Town. Don’t let the name fool you—yes, the participates refrain from eating meat for the duration the event, but the main spectacle has more to do with blood and gore than culinary restrictions. Don’t go if you’re squeamish—it’s a visual feast—with street parades featuring participants with knives, squeezers and other crazy objects inserted though through their face.

Detailed information

The festival takes place over nine days, during the ninth lunar month. Check the exact dates online and review a current program for details. . Over the duration of the festival, daily activities are scheduled at various Taoist shrines in Phuket Town, on the south-east tip of Phuket.

A troupe of Chinese visitors to Phuket in the 1800s inspired the festival. After falling ill with a fever, they cured their aliment with a strict vegetarian diet and Taoist rituals. Their descendants today believe participating in the Vegetarian Festival will being good health and benefits to their community.

The island of Phuket is best know as a beach holiday destination, with popular resorts and entertainment venues lining the west coast. There are however still plenty of hotels in the administrative enclave of Phuket Town. Staying here for a night or two over the festival is a good idea if you want to be in the heart of the action.

On day one, the festival begins at night, with the rising of a Lantern Pole at the Jui Tui Shrine in Phuket Town. This act is said to inform nine Chinese gods that the event is now underway. This occasion can be rather crowed, so take along a fast zoom lens if you want tightly frame distant acton. For the wildest night-time action, go on the last evening–you’re be sure to capture some bright sparks, smoke, and explosive flashes.

The daily street parades start at early, with willing participants being skewed near dawn at alternate shrines. Go early if you want to photograph this disturbing spectacle. But be warned, witnessing knives and other objected tearing though the flesh of a healthy face is even more difficult to stomach than watching the devotees walk the streets. If can only attend one parade, to see the most devotees , check the program and visit on the day a major shrines is hosting a parade. The five oldest Taoist and most important shrines in Phuket are Put Jaw, Jui Tui, Bang Niew, Cherng Talay, and Kathu Shrine.
The participants do not mind being photographed, in fact they’ll frequently pause in front of cameras. Even so, majority of your shots will be taken of people moving at a brisk walking pace. Staying in focus is the biggest challenge. Use a fast shutter speed.
The action is colourful, loud and chaotic. Fire crackers abound, so don’t be surprised to find them be exploding at your feet. Make sure you bring along earplugs, and eye protection. Every year bystanders are injured.
As symbol of purity, it is respectful to where white clothing when witnessing the festival.