Phuket
Vegetarian Festival : Phuket's most unique festival
is the Vegetarian Festival, which takes place during
the first 9 days of the ninth lunar month of the Chinese
calendar. This is usually in late September or October.
The festival marks
the commencement of "Taoist Lent", when
devout Sino-Thais abstain from eating all meat products.
In Phuket, the festival activites are centred around
five Chinese temples, with Wat Jui Tui on Ranong Road
the most important, followed by Bang Niew and Sui
Boon Tong temples, Events are also celebrated at temples
in the nearby towns of Kathu (where the festival originated)
and Ban Tha Reua.
The TAT office in Phuket
prints a helpful schedule of events for the Vegetarian
Festival each year. The festival also takes place
in Trang, Krabi and various other southern Thai towns.
The vegetarian Festival
involves various processions, temple offerings cultural
performances and medium consultations, culminating
with barely credible acts of self-mortification as
devotees walk hot coals, climb knife-blade ladders,
pierce their skin with sharp objects and literally
play with fire. Altars are set up along main streets
offering nine tiny cups of tea, incense, fruit, candles
ana flowers to the nine emperor gods invoked by the
festival.
Local Chinese claim
that the festival was started by a theatre troupe
from Fujan that performed in Kathu about 175 years
ago. The trope was taken ill because the members had
failed to propitiate the Nine Emperor Gods of Taoism.
The nine day penance they subsequently performed is
siad to form the basis for today's Vegetarian Festival.
Turtle
Relasing Fair : Phuket is known as the land of
turtle eggs "Chalamed" meaing green sea
turtle. Previously, during the egg-laying season of
the sea turtles, many turtles laid their eggs on all
the beaches in Phuket. Most of the sea turtles found
here are green sea turtles, hawksbill turtles, but
the rare turtle like leatherback turtle, which is
seldomly seen could also be found here, too.
At a time that collecting
of turtle eggs could be done legally by paying tax
to the government, Phuket was the province that earned
the highest tax of this kind compared to other provinces.
When the season come, the residents of Phuket would
stroll on the beachfront to watch the turtles laying
eggs.
This season was called "Turtle Walking Season".
However, at present the environment of the beach,
and the sea has changed, move turtles are hunted for
their flesh and eggs till they disappeared from the
beaches. The only beach that turtles still come to
lay their eggs is Mai Khao. Hence, sea turtle breeding
activities have taken place and are released back
to nature and the words "turtle walking"
has changed in meaning to seeing baby turtles walking
their way to the sea.
Thais turtle walking
practice has now become an annual fair, which is held
yearly on 13 April on Mai Khao Beach within the Sirinart
National Park. Besides releasing baby turtles into
the sea, other activities are folk games, water sports
and an exhibition of sea turtles.
