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This colourful and spectacular event is held annually from the first to the ninth day of the ninth Chinese lunar month (which falls sometime between late September and mid October in the Gregorian calendar).
These nine days of self-denial are considered to be auspicious both for the devotee and the community at large.
The festival celebrates the beginning of "Taoist Lent" when devout Buddhist Chinese descendants abstain from eating all meat and meat products, adhere to a strict vegetarian diet, wear white clothes and observe 10 rules or commitments in order to purify their minds and bodies.
The rules include good physical and mental behaviour and avoidance of sex and alcohol.
The festival involves various processions, temple offerings and cultural performances and culminates in rather exciting yet slightly gruesome ceremonies (which are not for the faint hearted) such as walking on hot coals, climbing knife-blade ladders, body piercing and other acts of self mortification.
These latter ceremonies are undertaken by participants in a semi-trance acting as mediums of the Chinese gods, and it is believed that these gods will protect them from harm. The puncturing of cheeks with knifes, and other instruments, is especially striking.
Surprisingly, these ascetic devotees, possessed by the spirits of nine deities (Emporer Gods), apparently feel no pain and show little sign of real injury.
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Throughout the festival visitors can indulge in specially prepared vegetarian cuisine at street stalls and markets throughout the island, and especially in Phuket town.
The opening event ( go teng ) is characterised by the raising of great poles, some ten meters high, at each Chinese temple in Phuket Town on the afternoon of the day before the festival, to allow the gods, such as Yok Ong Song Te (Shiva), to descend from the heavens and bring spiritual power.
At midnight, nine lanterns are hung from each of the poles, signifying the opening of the festival.
Processions take place at the following nine shrines around the island:-
Jui tui Shrine (the main shrine situated near the fresh food market / Thai airways office in Phuket town),
Sapam Shrine, Samkong Shrine, Bantharue Shrine, Bangneow Shrine, Cherng Talay Shrine, Kathu Shrine, Yokkekeng Shrine, and the Suiboontong Shrine.
The origins of the festival date back to 1825, when a travelling Chinese theatre troupe fell ill to a mysterious epidemic (malaria).
They decided to adhere to a strict vegetarian diet and pray to the Nine Emperor Gods (Youk Hong Ta Te) of Taoism for purification of the mind and body, and they were cured.
As penance they erected Chinese temples and held a vegetarian festival to honour the gods and to ward off any future bad luck.
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