"The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is an annual event held during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar. It is believed that the Vegetarian Festival and its accompanying sacred rituals bestow good fortune upon those who religiously observe this rite. During this time, local residents of Chinese ancestry strictly observe a 10-day vegetarian or vegan diet for the purposes of spiritual cleansing and merit-making. Sacred rituals are performed at various Chinese shrines and temples and aesthetic displays such as walking barefooted over hot coals and ascending ladders with bladed rungs are performed by entranced devotees known as "Ma Song". The devotees will go in procession, inflicting all kinds of tortures to shift other worshippers evil onto themselves in order to bring luck back on the community. All the mediums act involuntarily. They are in a trance. But they must have faith in their gods before they can be hypnotized. It is a deeply religious event." Please "click" on the photo to enlarge.