Vegetarian festival devotees parade through the streets in Phuket city, Thailand

---

Ritual Vegetarianism in Phuket Island traces it roots back to the early 1800's. The annual festival begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts for nine days. Participants in the festival perform acts of body piercing as a means of shifting evil spirits from individuals onto themselves and bring the community good luck. The ritualized mutilation is performed at a local Buddhist shrine under a trance-like state and is careful supervised.

---

Size: 2592px × 3888px
Location: Phuket, Thailand
Photo credit: © Sanji Dee / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: asia, asian, ceremony, chinese, city, culture, devotee, devotees, festival, god, holiness, holy, pain, parade, people, phuket, religion, religional, scenic, shrine, thai, thailand, vegetarian, vegetarianism