SONGKHLA, Oct 10 (TNA) – The Vegetarian Festival was in full swing in southern Thailand on Wednesday as devotees joined street processions featuring extreme bodily implements and other supernatural rituals.
In Songkhla, an official opening was held Tuesday night with Thais of Chinese descent took part in festivities in a public park.
An official estimate suggests over 100,000 tourists both Thai and foreigners will join various activities Songkhla has to offer.
Like other Chinese communities, the resort island of Phuket held a ceremony to raise a holy pole called Ko Teng pole, signifying the start of the Vegetarian Festival. Shrines of Chinese deities and foundations have begun to provide free vegetarian dishes to attendants.
On the second day of the Festival, activities were in full swing at Chinese communities across Thailand. The shrines in Phuket are famously known for hosting a variety of activities over the nine days of the festival, including displays of supernatural feats.
Naka Shrine on Wednesday organized a parade of entranced devotees or Ma Song who pierced themselves with sharp objects. The street processions around Phuket saw many Ma Songs pierced with the likes of knives on their faces and bodies.
Other shrines will arrange processions of their possessed Ma Songs until the Festival ends on October 17.(TNA)
