BANGKOK, Oct 8 (TNA)- Vegetarian Festival kicked off at shrines of Chinese deities in Thailand on Monday, the first day for devotees to observe vegetarian diets in the nine-day festival.
Local residents in many parts of the country who observe the festival refrain from eating meat, having sex and drinking alcohol in the period of spiritual cleansing. Participants wear white clothes and join rituals to honour gods at shrines.
Vegetarian food is made available as demand rises. Some shrines of Chinese deities are preparing vegetarian meals for all devotees at their massive kitchens.
In many communities, Vegetarian Festival began with traditional pole-raising ceremony. Members of Thai-Chinese communities attended the ritual considered auspicious bringing luck and fortune.
A large crowd gathered at a 100-year-old shrine in southern Trang province to observe the pole-raising ceremony.
In Krabi, also in the South, nine lanterns were raised in a ceremony signifying the start of Vegetarian Festival.
Festivities, merit-making and spiritual activities will be held in the annual festival of Chinese descents in Thailand until October 17 this year.
Vegetarian Festival is most popular in cities and towns of southern Thailand for their vibrant street processions featuring extreme bodily impalements and other holy rituals. (TNA)
