Thailand has some rather unique local customs and traditions.
Many of them endearing – others, fairly mind-bending. It’s not always easy to understand what they’re thinking. One of those fairly mind-boggling customs is the need to set of firecrackers throughout the entire day.
Buddhists believe it wards off evil spirits.
Some days the loud and unsuspecting bang don’t seem to affect my life or my mood much. Others – the constant machine gun sound of a string of crackers going off amplified by the giant furnaces they throw them into is enough to make me throttle those monks. They will set them off every two minutes for about an hour sometimes. Not endearing at all when you are trying to sleep in or even fall asleep or enjoy some peace and quiet after having your brain unhinged in Phuket traffic.
Then there are times where I’ll be riding along the road on my scooter and suddenly someone will light one of those BIG tom thumb crackers that explode just as I drive past them causing me to catch such a fright that I almost fall off my scooter. I’m not kidding – this has happened to me at least twice. My only thought is that to the people driving behind me – seeing me almost jump a meter high on my moving scooter, must be hilarious.
There are many other customs which are quite noble too and those who at first seem noble, but then after learning the history of the custom – seem a bit far fetched. To us westerners at least.
Tradition for the vegetarian festival has it that you will be protected from trauma by the Nine Emperor gods if you pay homage to them by piercing your flesh.
Phuket’s Annual Vegetarian Festival is one those that seem inspiring. The history of the festival revolves around a group of Chinese opera singers who fell ill with malaria after they forgot to pay homage to the nine emperor gods in the first nine days of the ninth month on the Chinese lunar calendar.
As a result of the vegetarian diet they implemented in a bid to make up for their disrespect – their illness miraculously vanished. Once the towns people heard about their successful tribute, they too adopted the tenet, where, for the first nine days of the ninth month on the Chinese lunar calender, they would practice self purification by wearing white, abstaining from sex, meat, alcohol and bad behaviour.
It seems a bit unfair though that pregnant and menstruating women are not allowed to join in the festivities at on of the six main Chinese temples on the island where the rituals are performed. The first ceremony is the raising of the lantern, which is to notify the nine gods that the festival has begun. Then, for the next nine days, at 6am every morning Thai’s with Chinese background flock to the temples to pray and witness the other rituals which include walking on hot coals, self mortification, oil bathing and body piercing. This is not your average oil bathing or body piercing either. The oil they cover themselves in is boiling and they pierce their cheeks with massive silver stakes and put THE most random objects through them. My favourite so far has been the guy with two exhaust pipes in his face and another guy giving a noteworthy gun show. Self mortification includes climbing ladders of blades. Not for the feint at heart.
At first – when I still thought the Vegetarian Festival had a more serious history, I thought that the reason they try and skewer, sauté and flay themselves was to demonstrate the harshness of how animals are slaughtered to feed the human population. And that is was done to honor the animals. How naive of me…
A local who took part in the hair raising ritual making his way down to the parade.
It is believed that through these crazed rituals (where those who are participating like to think that they are in a trance and possessed by spirits) that the Chinese gods will protect them from trauma.
Once the rituals are finished, there is a parade throughout the streets in which you will be able to see just how creative people have gotten in their displays and to prove their devotion to their beliefs. The parade eventually passes and the crowds dissipate and you are left standing ankle deep in firecracker shrapnel with your jaw on the floor, minus an appetite and thanking God – or whom ever your believe in, for your submissive and docile traditions. The most discomfort I’m most likely to experience at any one of the western world’s traditional past times is feeling like my belly is about to explode from eating far too much.
Easter – we eat, Christmas – we eat, Thanksgiving – we eat. A thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Call me a sissy should you wish, but I stand firm in my conviction that I would much rather prefer to celebrate our local customs and traditions by eating my way into hospital and not by tearing my body to pieces with a silver stake or an axe.
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Nicky Vermeulen